Uncertain Fate
by Mahou Shoujo Crystalic Katomi
Summary: The Storm Hawks find Katie and it looked like a happily ever after for the two sisters. However, not all is what is seems and fate is a crossroad of choices and split-second desicions. What does the future hold for everyone on Earth and Atmos?
1. Chapter 1: Found Sister

_**Uncertain Fate**_

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks. However, I do own Emma. All characters, places, ideas, and concepts belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 1: Found Sister_

It had been, what a few months, since Emma came to the Atmos. The experience for her was… Well, it couldn't have been put down words. There were times when she felt that the world was against her, but those feelings were almost replaced by amazement of something she had only heard. What even amazed her more was how far she went through without dying. Facing off against pirates, reptilians, and soldiers of a tyrannical army on a time-to-time basis, she didn't even know why she wasn't in a hospital bed on life support.

It was one night, relaxing in the bridge of the Condor that the Gaian was in one of her thinking sessions. Munching on some cookies she snuck out of the snack bin along with milk, she pondered on the things that had clouded her mind since she came to Atmos. Some were just things she only dreamed of: fighting bad guys, protecting places, seeing dragons, and most importantly, being able to survive a world where most of the odds were against her. But mostly, she knew that it was mostly dumb luck, except for the dragon part. She definitely milked that sweet victory from Piper when the specialist told her that dragons went extinct years ago and afterwards, found a clutch of newborns.

Still, she missed her home back on Earth and wondered if she would ever return with her sister. That was the priority that made her stay longer than she could stand. However, the Gaian felt obligated to get the eldest back from the Cyclonians or else… Well, she couldn't think of it.

"Still awake?" a familiar voice asked, as the teen girl turned to see Aerrow, the proud Sky Knight of the Storm Hawks and leader, relaxing near the doorway. She just stared before going back to eating, causing the young sky knight to sigh. He then walked over to the table, sat down, and inquired, "Are you being bugged by something, Emma?"

"Just bored," she answered, staring off into space. The boy chuckled while sweatdropping. He remembered both Finn and Emma fiddling with the strange puzzle box they acquired at the Saharr Marketplace. In fact, they became obsess with it. It was only until after it lost power and their fight with the Mecha-powered Dark Ace that Stork melt it down along with the Suit of Ultimate Vengeance scraps. When the two found out, they didn't forgive the merb for it and took new entertainment in which they called, "Merb-Hunting", in which the Gaian described, _"Is much better than Duck Hunter because there's no stupid dog to laugh at ya"_.

The redhead sighed before saying, "Emma, I've been thinking… It might be a _long_ time before we may find you sister; and sooner or later, you might be a liability in our battles. So, you might want to consider taking combat and flying lessons." The girl sighed; she had this conversation many times before and they all ended the same way.

"I said this before Aerrow. I will take the combat training but not flying." she answered in a stern tone. Although it would have benefited her a whole lot, her fear and pride would never allowed it; she would never allow her fear of heights and falling to get out to the group.

"Emma, you should really think about it." The sky knight calmly, but forcefully said, "You know you can't rely on us forever. And that end might come sooner than you think, so you need to be prepared when the time comes. Look, if there's something bothering you, then tell us. You're not alone."

In a moment of thought, she deliberated; should she tell and be told there was nothing to worry about, or should she just keep quiet and let them bugged her until she finally decided to do it. Both seemed pretty lousy, but after a few seconds, the girl answered, "If we don't find my sister in a couple of days or so, I'll consider it."

"Okay, I'll have your word for it." Aerrow replied, before noticing her nonchalant eyes stared off into space again. "… We're going to find her. Don't worry about it." The brunette looked back at the sky knight again, not changing her facial expression. It seemed she got the message pretty clear.

"I know. She's tough…" she muttered, trying not to think what horrible tortures Cyclonis was doing to her. Needing to change the subject, she looked at the sky knight and asked, "Can you tell me about the Far Side again?" He smiled before going into detail on the legends, myths, and theories surrounding the mysterious Far Side.

As he trailed on with the tales, the girl drifted off to a place that was somewhat familiar to her. She didn't know why, but from what the young teen boy said, it seemed to be a mix of both the ancient civilization of Earth and modern day Atmos. However, when it came to the actual seeing of the Far Side from Aerrow's cycle around Atmos, he always said, "Wow." And when she asked why it was just "Wow", he replied, "Well, you would just have to see it."

Suddenly, the intercom turned on and Stork's voice spoke, "Attention; we have a situation here. Please come to the bridge so we can get on with our lives… Even though we might die." The red head quickly stood up as Emma watched him leaved. After he was gone, she stood up and started to walk towards the bridge as well. She wanted to see what Stork was complaining about now.

* * *

The Condor landed on an unknown terra right after they arrived. It appeared a distressed beacon was activated around that area, and being a sky knight squadron, it was their duty to rescue whoever activated it. The doors of the hanger opened and four bikes with five teens and a small furry sped out onto the terra and towards the exact point of the call. Once getting there, they all got off with their weapons in hand as Aerrow ordered, "Okay, guys, be on your guard now. We don't know what's out here."

His message seemed to have gotten to the group. Finn was expecting the ledges along with Piper, Junko activated Knuckle-Busters and went into a defensive stance, and Radarr started to sniff the air. The only one who wasn't taking it serious was Emma, as she gazed at the landscape. The specialist took notice of this and said, "Emma, Aerrow said to be on your guard."

Without looking at the tanned girl, the brunette responded, "Well, I don't see anything that might be dangerous. Besides, if there really was an enemy here, then they would have attacked us by now, right?" If she had know those were Custard's last words, she would have reconsider a better choice, especially afterwards. A figure leapt from a hiding place and went to attack the team. Finn quickly shot, however, missed. Piper was to ready to staff for an attack, however, the figure quickly rammed the weapon it was holding into her stomach, causing the tanned girl to let go of her pole and fall onto her butt; one down, five more to go.

Junko started to charge at the enemy with Finn still firing his Ice Bolts. The cloaked figure quickly deflected two, making both the wallop and sharpshooter frozen. The sky knight quickly charged and swung his blades at whoever was attacking. However, the figure quickly dodged and started to attack the young teen. It soon turned into a fight for survival for the two competitors, each one blocking or dodging the other attacks.

Both seemed to be at a stalemate, before a battle cry was heard. Emma, seemingly being left out of the battle, decided to help Aerrow and quickly pinned the adversary against a rock. She was fiercely pushed the body against the stone, hoping that her strength was enough to subdue her. However, once the moonlight reflected the figure's face, she gasped and relaxed her force.

"Katie, is that you?" the Gaian asked, causing the enemy to become shock, let down their weapon, and then removing its hood. The Storm Hawks, with two now-unfrozen Finn and Junko, now looked over at the two, to see that the figure was a girl with long, dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a face that looked almost identical to their Earthling friend. They really hoped that whoever she wasn't a clone of their friend that the Cyclonians wanted to use to trick them.

"Emma?" the young woman answered, staring at the younger's eye. Suddenly, she hugged the young teen, who got freaked out, and exclaimed, "Oh! It really is you, isn't it?" The tightness of the hug indicated that she really was glad to see her. The sky squadron, however, was really confused by this sight, especially of what happen next.

"Katie! I thought the Cyclonians had you!"

"They did!"

"How did you get away?"

"I escape when they weren't looking."

"They must have been really distracted when you escaped."

"And what does that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing! I'm glad you're safe!"

Being out of the loop, the red head coughed, causing the two females to look over at him. Once realizing about what had happened, the younger brunette introduced, "Guys, this is my sister, Katie. She's the reason why I stayed in Atmos through all your crazy endeavors."

"… You stayed because of me?" Katie asked, before blushing a bit, "You really shouldn't have. I mean, it's nice and all, but this world is still dangerous. I mean, with all the Cyclonians and Raptors running around." That was the thing with Cyclonian training; they told the trainees they were fighting but not who against.

"Yea, well, there are a lot more than just the Raptors and Cyclonians ruling the skies." The sister answered, before turning to the Storm Hawks. "This is the Storm Hawks; the one of the many squadron of sky knights that protects a free Atmos." Once the college student looked over at the kids, her face was in shock. The squadron now knew that she was surprised at their… difference.

"But these are just kids. Why are the Talons having a hard time with this bunch?" Now, she wasn't trying to make it sound like an insult. But to the Storm Hawks, it hurt very much.

"Hey! We did a lot of great things. In fact, we're the reason that your sister is safe from Master Cyclonis!" Finn exclaimed, before getting hit by Piper's staff. The tanned girl puffed her cheeks in angry embarrassment as the blonde just had little birdies circled around his head. The two Gaian girls blinked before looking back at each other and then back at the group.

"Come on, let's head back to the Condor now." Aerrow said, hoping to have some order, "I bet Stork would be really glad that we found your big sister." The group started to head towards their skimmers, leaving their leader to let his mind wander. He wasn't wondering about how the merb would treat the girl; it was about how she showed up all of a sudden, claiming to be Emma's lost sister. Something didn't seem to add up about it, especially since Cyclonis would never give up something as valuable as a Gaian's memories. Something screwy was going on around here.

The tactician stopped and looked back at Aerrow, asking, "Aerrow, what are you thinking about?" That caused the red head to snap back into reality. He looked back at the tanned girl and smiled a fake smile.

"It's nothing, Piper. Let's just go." He said, before walking back to his skimmer. To him, this had been definitely a strange night.

* * *

_Everyone, allies and enemies, were standing on the ruins of the falling empire. Cyclonis, gaining technology from the Farside, had up her game and started to rebuild the fallen empire back to its former glory. It would have been total victory too if it hadn't been for her bane, the Sky Knights. Though she managed to almost confine them all to a prison crystal, her biggest blight, the Storm Hawks along with the rest of her other annoyances who didn't join her, had stopped her plans with Piper's Binding and Aerrow's leadership. Now, with the cost of her Dark Ace, she was alone, but she will still stand and fight them all, even at the cost of her life._

"_It's over, Cyclonis," Aerrow said, "Your army and crystal technologies have failed you. If you surrender now, the council might go easy on you." The empress growled at that response. She wasn't going to surrender, right when she was so close to ruling all of Atmos like her ancestors had did. However in reality, it was falling apart before her eyes._

"_Please, Cyclonis! Just surrender so you won't hurt yourself even more," Piper pleaded, trying to convince her equal to give up this foolish exploit. It was hopeless endeavor though. It was going to take a lot more than that for her former "best friend" to convince Cyclonis to surrender._

"_I won't surrender," the dark crystal mage stated, "I will never surrender. As long as I'm still here, the Talons will never fall! I will rebuild my empire and I will destroy-!" A slash from behind caused the young teen to faint and fall to the ground. The two looked down at the body where they saw a gash on the body's back and then looked up to see the culprit._

_It was a built figured, dress all in blue armor accept for his right arm, tail, and wings. It was demonic, three-clawed arm that went from his hand to almost half its chest, with its own shoulder-guard and a dark eye. In his normal hand, it grasped a blade that still haunted Aerrow's mind, but now it looked more unnatural than before. The two would have guessed it to be their old enemy, Carver, but the blue horned and demon-winged helmet only showed the red eyes, glancing for kill at the two. Whoever or whatever this was made both crystal mage and sky knight quivered._

"… _Who are you?" the young teen asked, as Junko, Finn, Stork, Radarr, and Emma entered the room. They were about to warn their friends of the once-flying terra now falling. However, the scene in the room made them paused with horror. There was a dead body of Cyclonis and a blue demon-like creature before them. While the Atmosians waited for an answer, the Gaian felt that she already knew who this was._

"_**I**_... _**Am**_…_**NIGHTMARE**_!"

…

…_._

"Hmmmm…"

"What is wrong, Master?"

"Our latest scribe seems to be different than the last one, but still showed Nightmare's revival."

"Him? It's bad enough that he terrorized Gaia four-hundred years ago. If he revives here, than both worlds shall be doom."

"Is it because of the Gaian?"

"Not true, our previous scribes also showed Soul Edge being revive before she came. However, maybe her being her might make Soul Edge come up with a plan to involve both worlds, maybe in war."

"I agree. In this one, it showed him killing Cyclonis. But in our last one, it showed Nightmare heading towards Gaia instead."

"Does that mean she might be an uncontrolled variable because of where she's from?"

"Don't say that! Gaia and Atmos affect one another. Besides, we're Guardians. Our job is to watch over all life on Atmos, and interfere when we deem necessary."

"Yes, once, we were many. But now, there are only four of us left. The Cyclonis lineage saw fit to that."

"Well, according to the future scribes, it seems that she has a choice to either stay here or go back home. I think we should tell her about this and see what she chooses. Then, we should start scribing as to the future of our world once she does."

"Are you sure it is safe to tell her about her and our future?"

"Better than letting her make a choice without letting her know what is at stake."

"Then, we shall tell her in hopes that she would make a choice. One where both she and our world will have a bright future."

The Guardians then transformed into Mynall Birds before heading off into the skies, beginning their plan for the final showdown.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Please see next chapter for Notes.


	2. Chapter 2: A Turn of Luck Day

Disclaimer: All characters, places, ideas, and concepts belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 2: A Turn of Luck Day_

_9:50 AM – Try to skip breakfast_

Emma woke up to the blinding sun and yawned. Last night had been busy from trying to calm Stork to finding a temporary room for her sister. Oh yea, they did find Katie last night on that terra, and soon, the two will go back home to Earth… Wait, something about that didn't feel right, or maybe it was just her.

Getting out of bed, the Gaian walked out and headed towards the bridge. Surprisingly, when she got there, she saw at least no one at the table where they would usually eat. Stork wasn't even near the helm where he usually drove. So, today could have been a rest/practice day. The teen then noticed a note on the table written in English. Once grabbing it, she read,

_Dear Emma,_

_I told the Storm Hawks to start without you since you sometimes go straight to lunch. We left some food for you if you are hungry._

_Katie_

The brunette looked at the plate of food and grimaced in disgust. 'It must have been Junko's turn to cook.' she thought, staring at the slightly moving grub. She wouldn't mind the wallop's cooking if he could at least finish cooking it… Or that his tastes should be at least a little bit more normal. Oh well, she had her own strange eating habits. And this was just the beginning of the day. There were some things that she needed to do.

* * *

_9:56 AM – Find Finn and listen to his guitar playing_

Emma walked down the hallway to find Finn scrubbing the hallways. Smiling, she walked up to him and greeted, "Hey, Finn. Think that you could play once your chores are done?" The boy looked over gave out a weak smile. She suddenly felt doubt about her getting to hear his rocking tunes.

"Sorry, Em," the blonde started, "But I kinda played for the other last night when you went to bed." Oh yea, Finn wanted to show his "awesome" guitar skills to his sister. "And I think it went pretty well too before my guitar somehow busted while I was performing. I was thinking either Stork or Piper did it."

"Oh," she answered back, looking disappointed that he wasn't going to play for a while. In fact, she really like Finn's music. It wasn't awesome but he was at least trying. "That's too bad. I was really looking forward to one of your music sessions for myself. I think you're a good player."

"Oh, you're just saying that to be nice when everyone else hates it." the sharpshooter answered, showing both pride and modesty. The girl blinked, trying to figure where he would get an idea like that. Maybe Piper tried to make him stop by saying that the other-worlder was just trying to be nice.

"No, really, I think it's cool!" Emma said, trying to sound sincere, "It might not be great now, but if you really practice and experiment with melody, you can be a really great guitarist. Maybe not a really famous or popular, but you will have some fans." That definitely brightened Finn's day as a smile cross his face.

"Wow, thanks," he said, as he went back to scrubbing. The Gaian just walked off, thinking about what to do next since music was out of the question. It was a shame though, but she really needed to hear something other than silence to brighten her mood today.

* * *

_10:03 AM- Head to Piper's lab to play with crystals (If Piper's not there, sneak in and play with crystals anyway)_

The brown-haired Gaian knocked on Piper's door and then waited for a response. Other than listening to Finn's music, she usually played with the magical stones in order to figure out which does which and to not bore herself while on the Condor. While part of the standard education system was about facts and figure, another was to satisfied curiosity and questioned the world around. And since the teen was staying in Atmos for a while, she might as well see which crystal does what without analyzing.

The door opened to reveal the tanned girl, who looked almost in shock. "Emma? What are you doing here?" she asked, still having that surprise in her voice before switching to a more stern tone. "If you are going to play with my crystals, then leave. Besides, I'm doing an experiment with Katie right now."

"… Is it the "Crystal Effects on Gaians" experiment?" the older girl asked, a little bit worried. She knew that the crystal specialist had been interested in the relationship between crystals and Gaians. This included Emma trying to learn the same lessons as Piper in crystal-handling, and she didn't like it much.

"No! We're actually making crystals!" the tanned girl replied with excitement. "Who knew your sister knew so much about crystals!" The elder teen blinked at that exclamation. She didn't even know that her sister was a crystal expert. In fact, she didn't even remember learning about crystals in her Cyclonian training other than use them for shooting. Oh well, maybe Katie picked it up when she escaped and explored Atmos a little bit too.

Before Emma could say anything, the crystal specialist said, "If you need something, can it wait? We're making an ultra-rare, very powerful crystal that the technique for making it has been lost in the ages." And with that, she shut her door, leaving the brunette in awkward silence. The girl then started to walk away, wondering if there was anything else to do.

* * *

_12:51 PM-Lunch (Also, find something to do)_

The Gaian began eating her sky-dog with cheese melted on top of it. It was a good dish for lunch, since she had been limited in food supplies on Atmos. However, she realized that some Atmosian food was basically the same as her own earth food, except she still couldn't find any ramen. But her eating wasn't enough to combat her boredom when she was done.

"Hey, Emma," said the familiar voice of Aerrow, as she watched him walk down the hall. "Your sister seems to have made herself comfortable here." Then, he noticed the look on the brunette's face and asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing, just bored," she answered, finishing off her sky dog. So far, nothing has gone her way, since Finn's guitar was broken and Piper was learning crystal mastery from her supposed "crystal master" sister. But other than telling him the whole problem, she simply put it that she was bored.

"…Why don't you spar with me? It will just be bare-handed." The red head asked, causing the girl to quickly shake her head. She wasn't going to fight him since he was a few levels higher than him. Seeing her answer, he suggested, "Or you could help Junko move some boxes on the flight deck."

The Gaian thought about it; it was either work or get hurt in a fight. As much as she hated to do chores, she really didn't want to exhaust herself from trying to beat the sky knight. And since she couldn't think of anything else to do, she answered, "I'll help Junko."

She got up and started to walk away, leaving Aerrow in confusion. Sometimes, he wondered what was going on in her head.

* * *

_1:05 PM-Move boxes with Junko_

Emma carried a box that the Storm Hawks got from Terra Colusmiss all the way to the other side of the deck. She only moved a few boxes, but it was still insignificant to how much Junko had move. Because of his super-human strength, the wallop can move at least ten boxes without even sweating. Still, it wasn't enough from the hundred of boxes they had received. Why did they have to receive a lot of meat?

"You know, Junko," the brunette said, as she placed the box down and stretched her back, "With everyone doing their own thing, I think I could do something better than lifting boxes."

"Yea, you probably could," answered Junko, as he placed a couple of boxes near the others. "I mean, if you are tired from carrying these boxes, I could ask the others to help me. Maybe your sister, she seems nice." That statement caused the teen human to snap; she wasn't tired and she didn't want her sister to show her up, even if the youngest was stronger.

Instantly, she grabbed a box and said to the ballistic expert, "Hand me another one." The wallop blinked, unquestionably obeying her as he stacked another box on the one's she's carrying. "Another." He did the same thing, making it three boxes she was carrying. "Another."

Junko stared at the stack and then back at the girl, asking, "Are you sure?" He could tell by the way Emma was in a position her legs that she couldn't take another box. As much as he would give her another box, he was worried about her well-being.

The Gaian glared and replied, "Another." The wallop sighed, before stacking another. For a moment, this went on and on until she was holding at least eight boxes, towering towards the ceiling. Her face looked strained as she tried to balance the containers with them swaying to and fro. "… See, Junko, I can handle it." The brunette started to head towards the other side…

Before a bunch of boxes with meat inside them toppled onto her.

The rhino creature stared, before Aerrow, Finn, Piper, and Katie came in to see the pile of both container and mutton on top of the now annoyed teen. This was a predictable situation; she had seen this many times in cartoons but during that moment, she forgot the conclusion to the disastrous scenario.

"Emma, you shouldn't try to carry so many at once," the older sister said, before using a red crystal to lift up the boxes and meat, and putting them with the others neatly. Then, she proceeded to do the same things with the rest of the boxes, completing the difficult task in nearly seconds. "See, Piper, there are a lot more uses for crystals if you can think of some."

"Wow! That's so cool!" Piper said, causing the still laying teen to growl. She had been telling the crystal specialist that ever since she could remember, but the tanned girl still didn't take it seriously like she was now with her sister. Maybe it was because she was trying to use her Solaris Stone as a night light.

Aerrow approached the others and said, "So, since Katie cleaned the storage and we got most of our chores done…" He looked over at Finn, who threw away his mop at the last second. "Anyone up for Sky Keep-Away?" The whole gang cheered, showing that they wanted to play the game. The only who was quiet was Emma, who was still on the floor. The red head noticed and asked, "What about you? Want to join us?"

The Gaian looked up and answered, "I don't know how to fly a skimmer, remember?" Yea, there was that, even though she could ride on one of their skimmers. Because of this, the Storm Hawks felt there was much more to this "Not-Wanting-To-Fly" than just simple lessons.

"I would like to play, too," Katie said as she smiled a big smile. "Unfortunately, I don't have a skimmer or heli-scooter with me." The young sister looked up with anticipation. Maybe she could now ask her sister how her time on Atmos was.

However, the tanned girl spoke, "You could ride with me, Katie." Emma quickly shut her mouth as she saw her sister hastily agreed. Afterwards, everyone hopped onto their rides and started the game, flying away without her. The brunette just shook her head and walked away. She didn't mind. Her sister could do whatever she wanted. So… Why did she feel so melancholy?

* * *

_2:52 PM-Sit around the bridge (Or be bored)_

Emma watched as the group flew through the skies, trying to get the crystal "ball" from the one who had it. From the bridge, she watched from the table, tapping her fingers along the table top. She huffed, feeling indifferent that the gang was playing without her. Sure, they done it many times before, but for some reason, this was bothering her a lot. She had a theory, but she didn't want to believe it for a minute.

"You know, I think I like your sister better than you," Stork said, as he stood at the helm, "She's a less annoying, Gaian Loner Finn-Version of yourself." The brunette glared, stopping her fingers in the process. She knew that the merb hated her for her "germs" and personality, but he didn't have to compare her to her sister.

Suddenly, she smiled a big Grinchy smile. She could always punch him, which would result in a bloody nose and probably anger management that she felt was useless. Or there was the other way which takes a page from what she had been taught about how to handle your enemies, especially worse ones, back on her home. So, she gave her most cheerful look and asked, "Oh, Stork, you look hungry. Mind if I make you something to eat?"

All of a sudden, the merb twitched and ranted, "Oh… I get your plan. You are gratefully offering me to a snack. However, in truth, you are just going poison me with Slipzer venom. No way! Not going to happen!" Then, he went back to the helm. She smirked. Her plan worked more or less. She would have cooked a meal so he could see that she was good and feel sorry for saying all those things to her. But with him being freaking out over "poison" might have helped her mood a bit.

Afterwards, the doors opened as the tired teens and college students walked in. They seemed to enjoy their game, all except for Finn. Crossing his arms across his chest, he huffed, "I still say I would have crystal. The only reason you got it from me was because Katie was distracting me."

"Yea, right! If you weren't so distracted with yourself, then you would have had the crystal and won," said Katie in a braggart's attitude. That caused the young sister to raise an eyebrow at her older sibling's behavior. Strange, she thought the eldest was much more mature than this.

"Yea, Finn," the tanned girl agreed, "If you weren't so egotistical and stick with my planning once in a while, we would have finish half our missions with no problems. You could be a real pain sometimes." This caused Finn to pout even more; he knew he was kind of a pain in the neck, but at least he was trying.

"… Takes one to know one," Emma mumbled, looking off into the distance. After she said that, every sound stopped, causing an awkward silence to spread. The brunette looked over at the group, who were staring at her with wide eyes. She then realized that what she said before was heard.

"What does that supposed to mean?" the tanned girl asked, with a miffed look on her face. The young Gaian stared. The little voice in her head was telling her to just leave it at that, to just admit nothing and go back to doing nothing. However, after what her day had been, she wasn't going to listen to it now.

"Simple, Piper, you brag how your plans will be "best" ever. But when they start going wrong, you go into a break down. The reason your strategies go wrong is because you overanalyzed on what to do, you miss very important details that you possible couldn't predict. If I was you and my plan didn't go the way I intended, I would just go with the flow. And either continue with the plan, or if it's too difficult, remake the plan."

She then took a deep breath and continued, "And also, no matter how you justify yourself, you're just as immature as him. Other than the times you boast about your plans and strategy, there was that time you left the Storm Hawks because you weren't appreciated. The guys appreciate you a lot, but probably not in the sense you want it. Also, my absolute "favorite" story about you, that time you made Finn leader and then, you tried to get your temporary position back by forcing the Condor to crash just because he messed with your music! I didn't even know how you got Stork to even agree to do that since he loves his ship too much to even sacrifice her! I mean, you were going to sacrifice your home just in order to teach Finn a lesson! If you really wanted him to fail, you should have just let fail if he was heading in that direction. But if you really, really went through with that, then not only are you immature, you are just cruel."

Silence filled the Condor as everyone looked at Emma with a freaked-out face. The one who was beyond words was Piper herself, as she stood there, surprised. Looking back, she never really thought about it like that. Sure, she had her bad moments as well. But to be called cruel, she didn't know what to say.

Noticing her almost sad face, Katie patted Piper's shoulder and comforted, "She really didn't mean it. Right, sister?" The young sister looked over and couldn't help but think that her older sibling was glaring at her.

"Yea, Piper," Junko reassured, "Emma's just having a bad day. She just needs to relax, that's all." The older adolescent watched as almost everyone tried to cheer up the crystal specialist. So, she might as well do what she had done best, lying her own true feelings.

"Fine, I didn't mean it. I'm just tired," the Gaian replied, as everyone went back to their happy selves. They soon pretty much left to go back to do the things they wanted, leaving her and Stork behind. Surprisingly, he didn't even join the conversation until after it was over.

"For the record, I would rather destroy the Condor then let a power-hungry Finn run her," the merb stated, causing Emma to huff. She then started to head back towards her room, stomping on the metal floor and opening the door. Shockingly, she noticed Aerrow standing against the wall with Radarr on his shoulder.

"… You did mean that, right?" the sky knight asked, causing the girl to be shock. She then looked away, grabbing her arm in the process. He noticed her reaction and responded, "Well, thinking back on it, I think I would rather have the gang stand up to Finn than using the Condor as a martyr." The girl looked over to the red head and smiled a bit. Then, he turned serious and continued, "But you really shouldn't call Piper cruel. You should really think about your choice of words."

"Okay," the brunette replied before walking again, "I'm going to bed now." She stated to head into her room, being watched by both sky knight and furry. They stared at her disappearing form before looking at each other. They were beyond words at the second.

"… It's still daylight." Aerrow said, looking at his partner who only shrugged at his statement. After a few months with her, they still didn't know what went on in her head.

* * *

_6:58 PM-Dinner_

After at most three hours of sleep, Emma was ready for another meal. That nap sure did help with her body to become rejuvenated and her mind to become much calmer than before. Too bad it was getting to be night time or else she would have done a lot more stuff.

"-There, Finn?" asked the familiar voice of Piper as the brunette came around the corner. She raised an eyebrow; the others must have been talking about something. Sneakily, she walked over to the side of the kitchen and began to eavesdrop. It might have been wrong, but it was better than interrupting them.

"I'm sure, Piper!" Finn's voice answered back, "… I'm not exactly sure if it was a portal-thingy, but I know there was something there on Terra Nord!" The Storm Hawks were talking about portals; this intrigued the Gaian a little bit.

"Well, we might as well explore Terra Nord for any portals. It's probably our only lead other than Cyclonia." stated Aerrow's voice. So, the conversation was about portals to her home world. That was good. At least they weren't talking about an invasion.

"Are you sure they are going to leave easily?" questioned Stork's voice, "From what we knew, they could force themselves here in order to carry out their invasion!" Emma growled. She really needed to talk to Stork about the difference between rational and irrational ranting. The merb could really go on about the "dangers" of Atmos.

"First off, Gaia is not going to invade Atmos. Emma said that no one there really wants war," the sky knight replied. "But you may be right about them leaving. If Cyclonia really wants to control their home, then they probably would want to fight against them. We could ask if they want to join the sky knights."

Emma was shocked to hear this. They really wanted to ask them if they wanted to stay. Sure, she had some fun times here. But this was almost war, and she wasn't ready for that kind of thing. Besides, the sisters had friends and family waiting for them on Earth. However, she suddenly went into shock when Junko spoke, "Why don't we ask Katie to help?"

Her fingers clenched against the palms of her hands as Piper agreed, "Yea, she basically a good fighter, she knows crystals, she's nice and helpful, and we can use her knowledge of Cyclonia's plans to keep one step ahead." The Gaian basically bit her lip from shouting out loud. She was a fighter, she can be nice and helpful at times, and even though she didn't have any knowledge on Cyclonis' strategies, she had a basic understanding of this world. So, why were they going to ask her sister instead of her?

Walking away from the kitchen's entrance, she started to head towards the docking bay. She just… She just needed to be alone at the moment. That was all.

* * *

_7:01 PM-Gaze at the sky (Maybe the stars)_

With the doors to the hanger open, Emma looked out to the dusk of twilight. It was strange to see the sun and think that it wasn't the same as her world's own sunset. In fact, most of the things on Atmos could have been pretty much the same thing on her world. However, she also noticed the major differences that made both Earth and Atmos different worlds.

She looked down, sighing. She still couldn't believe that the Storm Hawks were going to ask her sister instead of her. Sure, she had immersed knowledge of crystals lately, but she had much more battle experience, even if most of her fights in her childhood were basic sparring. Oh well, maybe it was for the best. After all, Katie would surely deny their request.

Glancing back outside, the brunette stared at the setting sun, feeling the cool air sweep into the hanger. It felt sweeter than any other before, and it made her feel sad. She will soon return to Earth and rebuff any proof that she had been on this world. After all, most people would never believe that there was another world with flying bikes and strange creatures. So, she watched her almost certainly last sunset on Atmos.

Dusk past and soon, the first star appeared in the night sky. However instead of being a standard star, it was moving around in almost a circular pattern. Raising an eyebrow, the girl thought it must have been a shooting star, though meteorites moved in a straight line and certainly not straight towards airships. That star was getting bigger and bigger until the teen figured out that it wasn't a star…

… It was an out of control skimmer.

Just as she had deduced the mysterious object, the alarm quickly sounded as the skimmer landed and skidded along the metal dock, into the hanger and straight into a wall. Emma just simply watched as the vehicle crash-landed, becoming nothing more than a wreck. She raised an eyebrow, confused and almost worried about the driver. In seconds, a dust-covered figure popped out of the wreckage and looked at its surrounding. Upon closer examination, the figure turned out to be Leugy, the reptilian member of the infamous Raptors.

The human was completely out of it when the lizard ran up to her, started to shake her, and blabbered about something she couldn't make out. She could withstand many things, but seeing one of her worse (very bottom of the list) enemies in the room, trying to tell her something broke her brain for a minute. Luckily, the gang quickly appeared in the hanger as well, with their weapons ready for attack. Aerrow was about to yell something heroic before noticing the sight and becoming just as dumbfounded as the brunette was.

"… Leugy?" the red head asked, as the others stared with confused looks. Stork, being the (almost) rational one at the moment, just glared before shutting the alarm system. Leugy noticed that the red lights that went on and off stopped and looked over at the Storm Hawks, who were still confused. About to advance them, the team quickly held up their weapons again, but instead of a big, one-sided battle, the chubby Raptor quivered.

"Oh! You gotta help me!" he pleaded, "Spitz has been captured by Murk Raiders!"

* * *

Author's Notes:

Here is my new project! This chapter was going to be a lot shorter than made, so I kinda added the Guardian scribing-thing in. In last chapter, I wanted test out how my views on the last episode would be if Emma was in it… However, this won't be a possibility.

As for Emma finding her sister in the first chapter, you guys probably know me long enough to know that I'm not going to let her goal be handed so easily. If you pay attention to this chapter, you can see some hints as to "Katie" might actually be. Be sure to stay tune on what lies ahead!

Also, I might not update the next chapter soon. You see, I promised Tawnyfur that I will write her Storm Hawks' Alice in Wonderland parody. If anyone else started before me, that's fine. But I'm guessing that no one did, so I got to be the one to do it.

Please read and review!


	3. Chapter 3: Rescue Mission

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 3: Rescue Mission_

"_What's ya doing, Spitz?"_

_The skinny lizard jumped suddenly as Leugy discovered him working on his skimmer. Or at least that's what he saw, his brother fiddling with his ride. Instead of getting an answer, he was only shushed by Spitz. "Quiet! Do you want to wake up the entire fortretth?"_

"_I was just wondering why you were down in." replied the plump lizard as he pushed his two index fingers together. Being the soft-hearted brother of the group, he didn't like being yelled at by his kin._

_Feeling a bit sorry, Spitz decided to tell what he was going to do. "I'm heading out to hunt." That caused his older brother to be excited. He squealed with enthusiasm that almost made the whole place awake._

"_Can I come too?" The youngest groaned that his brother was making a big deal out of this. Besides, there was a reason that he was going by himself anyway._

"_Can't. I'm heading to Terra Deep." Leugy stopped being eager and started to think. There was something suspicious going on here._

"_Terra Deep? But there's nothing there but Sky Sharks and-!" he stopped in mid-sentence before realizing what was going on. "Spitz! You can't fight against them! Repton says that they'll slaughter you."_

_The leaner raptor quickly covered his brother's mouth and said, "Lithten! I don't care what Repton thayth, I am going there and that's that." He then took his hands off and breathed deeply. "He killed mother... And before I could even hunt with her. I had told mythelf that when I find my mother'th killer, I hurt him like he did her. Repton may not underthtand, but I am going to do thith whether he liketh it or not! So, don't tell him!"_

_Leugy just watched as Spitz went back to working on his ride. He was silent during that time, not knowing what to say. If he said that he didn't want his brother to go, he would have gotten angry and that he didn't care for their mother. But he didn't want to say nothing before he left. So, he just replied, "Be careful, okay?"_

_The thin lizard became shock for a moment. Afterwards, he just shook his head, hopped onto his skimmer and rode off. Leugy just stood there, questioning whether he did the right thing or if this was going to end badly._

* * *

"… So, Spitz went off to fight the Murk Raiders himself?"

Leugy nodded.

"… And you can't tell Repton because if the Murk Raiders don't kill Spitz, he will and you too for not telling him sooner?"

Leugy nodded again.

After a brief interrogation, the Storm Hawks including the two Gaian sisters just stood there, silently thinking about the situation. A person from one of their worst enemy squadrons just flew into their base and asked them to help. Now, this sounded a little suspicious. So Aerrow asked, "So, why us? Why not the Cyclonians?"

"Because, they'll tell Repton about Spitz's capture and then, he'll kill us!" the plump lizard answered with anxiety in his voice, "Besides, you're the Storm Hawks. You're supposed to help, right?" Now no one could argue with that. Being a sky knight squadron, it was their duty to help those in need.

"Okay, Leugy, we'll help find-!" Before the red head could finish his sentence, he was dragged away by the other Storm Hawks. He looked shock as to why they were dragging him. But he could tell that they weren't happy with the look on their faces.

Once out of the hearing distance, Piper questioned, "Aerrow! What are you thinking? You don't know if this is even a trap!" True, it could have been a trap. In fact, both the Raptors and Murk Raiders could have been working together for their own gain.

"That could be true," the sky knight whispered back, "But what if it isn't? Repton could never pull a stunt like this, right?" He didn't know much about Raptors, but he knew a little about their tactics. And he definitely knew that Repton usually would do it alone if this was a trap.

Stork decided to add in his two cents. "Ohhh, you should give him a little more credit than he has shown. For all we know, we will all be walking blindly into enemy territory, with Raptors following behind us. And once the Murk Raiders notice, they'll bombard us, with Repton waiting for our corpses." Everyone sweatdropped at his hypothesis. He needed to get out more.

While they were debating whether to go on the rescue mission, Emma glanced over at Leugy. He looked depressed from his usual self, and she recognized what that depression was. Even though she didn't show it, she had worried about her sister a lot. Whether she had been fine, or if Cyclonis did doing horrible experiments on her, her mind became relieved when she saw her again. And seeing the lizard like this reminded her of the times she thought about her sister's well-being. So, she might as well help him, even if he was the enemy.

"I'll do it." Everyone in the room went into shock as they turned to the Gaian. She, the one who hated the Murk Raiders the most because of them chasing after her, was agreeing to go into their territory. They didn't know what to say. For her to decide on such a thing was weird… But it wasn't anything new.

After the awkward silence, Piper said, "Emma, you don't know how to ride a skimmer or even have one." That was true; the brunette didn't have any means of getting there and back on her own. Luckily, she didn't have to do it on her own.

"I'll just ride on Leugy's skimmer," she answered, using her thumb to identify the lizard. He perked up confusedly, being kind of withdrawn from reality and not knowing what is going on. He looked over at the Storm Hawks to understand a little more, and even they were confused.

"… Emma, do you also remember that the Murk Raiders are after you?" Finn's question did bring up a pretty good point. There was a chance for her and the raptor that they may not come back alive, or at least not at all. After all, she knew that their captain wanted her for a trophy.

But once she thought about it, she joked, "I could always trade myself for Spitz." The Storm Hawks including her sister looked at her with paled faces. "… Guys, I'm kidding. However, I'm still going to Terra Deep. I mean, if this was really a trap, would Repton really _really_ send Leugy to tell us that his brother was in danger?"

"HEY!" Leugy pouted when she had said that. However, the Storm Hawks had also realized the logic for Repton's "plan". If he really had planned a trap for them, he wouldn't have used one of his brothers to be the messenger. Hoerk would forget, Spitz was a bad actor, and Leugy would have ruined it by telling them accidently.

Once thinking about it, Aerrow turned to his team mates. "Alright! We have a mission! Stork, head towards Terra Deep!" Stork reluctantly obeyed as he headed towards the helm and piloted the _Condor_ to what he was saying suicide. Then, the sky knight said, "Okay! We have a few hours before we reach enemy territory. We need to be prepared for anything! Piper, think up a high stealth rescue plan! Junko and Finn, check up on any gadgets we might need and do a weapons check in case we might need them!"

"Alright!" the three of them said, scurrying to do what they were ordered to do. They were ready for another adventure. Once out of sight, the red head looked over towards Emma, who was watching the entire scene. He quickly walked over, grabbed her, and moved her away to a corner. The Gaian was shocked by this. Was he anger that she wanted to help their enemy?

Once out of talking range, he whispered, "… Did you want to help him because of your sister?" She instantly blushed with embarrassment. He figured it out already.

She looked down and started to press her fingers together. "… Well… I know how he feels. I stayed on this world just to look for her. I may not like her at times, but we're family. The same can be said for the Raptors. I mean… You know."

The boy stared at her before laughing. "Yea… I get it." He left it at that, knowing what she meant. It was the same with his crew. They were a pain at times, but they manage to love each other deep down. It must have been the same for the siblings. He knew that there was conflict between family members at times too.

Meanwhile Katie watched the scene in front of her. With an evil smirk, she thought, 'This is all too perfect.'

* * *

A few hours later, the _Condor_ was deep within the cloud fog of Terra Deep. Silently, it flew through the mountain spires and wreckage of other ships. The description itself stated, "_A storm that is a graveyard to a hundred lost souls._" Upon closer look, it meant that it was an entire storm on the outside, fog inside, and a ghost ship graveyard all around. Only a few brave or foolish souls would go into the terrible abyss. Strangely enough, the Storm Hawks were somewhere between those two.

The vessel found cover behind some spires once seeing flagship of the storm's inhabitants. Inside, Aerrow and Piper were getting ready to enter it. They had decided that two people would have to go in instead of the whole group. Stork and Finn would be easily recognized since they been there before, Emma, Leugy, and Katie would be in danger if they went and Junko…

"AHCHOO!"

The over allergenic wallop wiped his nose, sniffling as his eyes became clouded with tears. It was tough for him to be affected by Murk Raiders. He really wanted to help, but Piper explained that it would be hazardous to bring him. Oh well, he would still be back-up in case there was an attack.

"Okay, Stork, we're ready!" Aerrow's voice called from the intercom in docking bay. The merb quickly pulled the switch to release the doors. Outside, you could see two figures leaving the ship and heading toward the pirates' headquarters. They only used the wind and low-energy engines to glide over to it due to ultra-sensitive sound sensors the marauders kept. After all, this was a stealth mission.

The two disappeared in a slight crack of one of the cannon windows. Now, comes the hard part…

* * *

Several minutes afterwards, Aerrow and Piper were sneaking all over the vessel, searching for the prison. The routes seemed to be endless, with doors leading to either more doors or more dead ends. The good news was that they were following the map that Finn and Stork constructed when they were last here. Unfortunately, it was a pretty poor map due to Piper's standards.

After a while, the specialist spoke up, "Aerrow, do you think that we must have been found out?" That confused the sky knight a little bit. Maybe she was trying to break the silence that had formed during their sneaking.

"What makes you think that?" He gave out his usual happy-go-lucky smile. For him and others, it was like a safe haven. It meant that if even worse comes to worse, there was always a way.

"Oh, I don't know," she whispered, "Maybe because we haven't seen any Murk Raiders once we came in." True, so far they have been safe in the open. There was nothing in front or nothing behind that could detect them. Basically, there was no need for sneaking.

"Maybe they're having a party?" he guessed, causing the girl to giggle. She then looked at the map, checking on where they were. After a second, it seemed that they were close to the prison. She motioned her hand towards the door next to them. Her team mate nodded before opening the door. It seemed that the badly-drawn map had led them to the right place.

It seemed to be the standard, gloomy dungeon. There were several barred cells lining down the row. Most of them were empty, but there were some that held beasts from various parts of the known Atmos. Some were carnivorous monsters while others were just small, nice creatures that looked scared for live. Only one of these prisoners looked almost like he stood on two legs.

Aerrow looked over at the figure with an eyebrow raised. "… Spitz?" He raised his head, revealing to be the lizard himself. As far as he looked, he didn't seem to change much. Perhaps he was a little bit skinnier than last time. At first, he almost looked shock to hear his name. However, it soon changed to disappointment when he found out who had said that.

"Oh great, it'th the Thtorm Hawkth." The two didn't seem shocked by this statement since they were enemies after all. Without wasting time, Piper quickly took out a pin and started to pick at the lock. A several seconds later, the door was open and another step completed for their plan.

The sky knight looked at the raptor speaking, "Come on. We got to go." After taking a few steps, both sky knight and specialist learned that it was going to take more than a few words when they realized that Spitz wasn't following them. Puffing her cheeks, she went into the cell, grabbed the lizard, and came back out, dragging him by his clothes. The group started to move again, making their way back to their rides. So far, their plan had work to perfection. That was until the lizard sniffed the air.

Wiggling his way out of Piper's grasp, Spitz followed another path away from the inverse route was. The two noticed and at first were confused. They soon figured out that he might have been going back to fight the captain. Aerrow looked at the raptor and called, "Spitz, come on! We need to get out of here!"

The raptor glared at the two. "Thhut up! Thith ith important!" The two Storm Hawks blinked before following after him. They didn't like it, but they were obligated to help him. The three went through countless turns until they arrived at another door. A second later, Spitz opened it.

The room was basically standard size, but it was the décor that amazed them. It looked like a special treasure room, with jewelry display and artifacts aligned neatly. Anything could have been worth a fortune, but the lizard wasn't interested in that stuff. He looked all over the room before spotting something. He quickly grabbed and examined the piece he had found. After the inspection, he started to snuggle what the others felt was a dirty rag.

"… We went all this way for that?" Piper asked feeling offended. They went through all this trouble to rescue him, and he comes to this place for a piece of scrap cloth? She hadn't felt this mad since they went on that errand for the Colonel.

The lizard glared back at the two, replying, "Tho? Thith ith my mother!" Both sky knight and specialist quickly paled when he said that. Upon further examination, it did look like its texture was scales. And seeing how the raptor was snuggling it, what he had said was true. Their feelings were mixed with shock and disgust for this offense.

"… Spitz, we're sorry." Aerrow managed to say that with his pure feelings. He knew what it was like to lose family. For him, it was the Cyclonians who took his family. That was one of the reasons he became a sky knight in the first place. Now he had a little bit of sympathy for the Raptors.

Their serious mourning time was soon interrupted by the sound of someone munching. The three looked over at the sound to see a Murk Raider standing in the doorway, munching on some food and staring at them. At first, he seemed oblivious to the scene in front of him. But after his wheels started to turn in his head, he quickly realized what they were at the moment and quickly ran for back-up.

"Oh no!" Piper panicked, "We should get out of here before he comes back with support!" She didn't have to say that twice. The sky knight quickly grabbed lizard and ran out of the room with the specialist following behind them. Now, it was the hardest part, getting out of here before a mob follows after them.

* * *

A pair of hands appeared from the shadows and waved over a crystal.

"_**Crystal of unfathomable power**_, _**heed thy word and make thy wish a reality**_. _**Make winds blow and howl**_, _**use thunder to sound out my anger and cause lightning to strike at the very hearts of men**_. _**Obey thy will and let thy command be rung throughout this terra**_!"

The crystal glowed brightly when the figure had said her words. She now smiled at the inevitable doom of her enemies.

* * *

Back on the _Condor_, everyone was just laying back, except for Stork who was at the helm. Emma, Leugy, Junko, Finn, and Radarr were in the middle of an intense card game of Go Fish. To make the game more interesting, by Finn's terms, the five have made bets with each other using personal items. So far, Radarr had the most pairs, with everyone else lagging behind. The merb just rolled his eyes. 'That creature is evil,' he thought while turning back to the terra scenery.

Suddenly, he spotted something on the screen and muttered, "That's strange…" He checked to see if there was a mistake. But once seeing that it was working fine, he went into the "Oh-No-It's-the-end-of-all-life" state. He looked over at the group and said, "Ummm, not to alarm you, but it seems that we have a class three mega storm heading this way!"

"What?" The card game became instantly on hold as everyone went to look at the screen. It seemed that what the helmsman said was true. There was a huge storm heading their way, one that could possibly destroy them if they didn't get out of the way.

"Dude, contact Piper and Aerrow. Tell them to get out of there!" Junko instantly followed his best friend's command and tried to contact the two. But once picking up the transmitter, he could tell that the plan wasn't going to work once hearing loud static.

"Radio's down! We can't contact them!" the wallop exclaimed, making everyone recoiled. If they couldn't tell their friends, then there was a heavy chance that they wouldn't be able to make it out alive. And since this was a class three mega storm, they needed to use all the time they had to make sure not to get caught in it.

Stork ever fearing for his life said, "Maybe we should just leave them. After all, a storm like that can incinerate. We would be nothing left but molecules." Even though his accusation was a little bit farfetched, they knew that their ship didn't stand a chance of surviving the core of the storm. But still, they weren't going to leave their friends on an unknown ship with pirates. It wasn't in their nature.

Emma watched as they debated over whether or not they should help. Right now, she was just as conflicted as they were. Depending on how fast the tempest was going, it did make sense to get out before things got worse. However, she didn't want to leave Aerrow and Piper for two reasons. She had felt a slight connection to the team, even if she didn't want to admit it.

"Hey, guys," Katie said as she entered the room. She didn't seem too phased, probably because she didn't know about the storm heading their way. Though, she was confused as to why they were standing around. "You know, that storm looks really dangerous, maybe I should take my sister and leave."

The young sister burned with rage when her sibling had said that. She wasn't a child anymore. She was a big girl now, and big girls do whatever they wanted. And right now, she wanted to prove that she was much more valuable than her sister. "Guys, let's go get them!"

All the guys turned to her, confused. Did she say that she wanted to go get them, even though there was a storm coming? She was usually quiet when it came to the team discussing life or death. That was the one thing Stork liked because she didn't suggest to do deadly, life-ending antics. Curious, the merb asked, "Ummmm, why do you want to risk life and limb when there's a storm coming? … Not to mention that there's going to be a lot of Raiders against a very small group."

Though she had forgotten those details during her rage, Emma replied, "It's still going to take some time for the storm to get to where we are, right?" He looked back at the scanner before nodding. "Then, we need to track the position and speed of it. If it gets too close, contact us with anything so we can look for cover. We should at least give Aerrow, Piper, and Spitz the advantage in case they got stuck as well."

Now any tactical officer would say that was a pretty dumb idea due to the phrase, "_He who runs away can live another day_". And even if the team could get everyone out, there was still a probability of the tempest coming at them while they were out, not to mention that even adding numbers to a small group wouldn't give them better odds against a large force. There was no chance of them making out alive.

However, after a while of thinking, Finn spoke up, "Dude, she's right. We can't leave them. Aerrow wouldn't do that." Speaking from experience, he knew that in a tight pinch, Aerrow would have definitely come and save them. So, it was high time to pay him back.

"Yea!" exclaimed Junko, "And we faced a lot of Murk Raiders before. What makes this time different?" Well, other than the fact that there was a storm coming, there was really nothing to lose. So, he, Finn, and Leugy started to head to the dock. Emma followed right behind them before Katie grabbed her arm.

"Just let them go. They are professional." There was sternness in her voice, just like any older sister would have. However, due to the blind rage the younger sister was in at the moment, she glared at her older half.

"Katie, this is important. I'm going, even without your consent." she replied before following after the rescue team. The sister watched as her little sibling hurried to the deck. She silently growled before smirking sneakily.

* * *

Aerrow, Piper, and Spitz continued to run for their skimmers hoping to not get caught by the Murk Raiders. So far, it had been so good. There were no pirates chasing after them, and it was clear right in front of them. Yes, it seemed to be going perfectly well.

"YARGH!" … Dang, jinxed.

The three quickly stopped when the occupants of the ship were in front of them, beside them, and a few seconds later by secret passageways, behind them. They were now surrounded by sharp, glowing daggers. So, by elimination of options, the three now had to fight now. Aerrow took out his daggers, Piper brought out her staff, and Spitz just crouched into an attack stance. Afterwards, they lunged themselves at the opposition.

Aerrow was doing fine himself, weaving and slashing through the enemies. Piper made full used of her staff, blunt hitting them at close range or shooting her crystal bolts when at long range. Spitz was on beating most of the pirates down, even without the use of weapons. His claws gave him the advantage due to their non-modest nature. It seemed that they could make their escape after all… Until the raptor launched himself at what was his priority.

The sky knight noticed his actions and yelled, "Spitz! Don't!" But it was too late as the raptor received a swift kick to the face and was knocked down on the floor. The other two quickly head over to him however, they lost momentum and were now surrounded. The Murk Raiders chuckled evilly while their captain advanced to the fallen group.

"Well, well, we got a sky knight, a girly, and a reptile," Scabulous taunted with glee, "Seems like we have some new blood, boys!" They all pointed their swords at them, advancing with each step. Now, this seemed like the end for the three. But it seemed the Joker of Fate had other plans.

"'Scuse us."

"Coming through."

"AHCHOO!"

Strange enough, the people they didn't bring with them excluding Stork ran up through the crowd of murderous cut-throats. Even the pirates were surprised to see them here when they were about to capture some new crew. Spitz suddenly got annoyed when he realized that it was Leugy who got the Storm Hawks to help him. And he was even more annoyed when the plump lizard started to ask if he was okay, along with other questions. Before Aerrow could ask what they were doing, Finn said, "Okay, before you say anything, there's a level three mega-storm coming. We could have told you over, but communications down."

Both Aerrow and Piper looked at each other with a nervous look. They weren't counting on a storm while they were here. The best thing was now to escape to the Condor and scrammed before that tempest hits. "Okay, let's just get out of here. We already have Spitz and there's no point of dragging this out any longer!"

"Not so fast!" shouted Scabulous as he glared, "Don't you forget that you're on my ship, and I say that you are lying about that storm!" The Murk Raiders instantly went back into their "we're going to capture you" pose, pointing their daggers back at them. This was stupid. They just needed to get out of there before the storm struck. So, Emma decided to try her logic skills in negotiating.

"If we were lying, would _**I**_ be here, trying to save my friends from you guys?" There was an awkward silence after she had said there. It only took a few moments before something clicked into the pirate's mind that made them smile wickedly.

"The Gaian's here!"

"Get her!"

They all went to tackle her, making her realized her mistake. But fortunately, the still-allergenic Junko saved her from contact. The intruders started to run away with the pirates, who chased after them with determination. During their sprinting, Piper looked over at the Gaian and asked, "Why did you come here? You knew that the Murk Raiders were after you!"

"Well, I came to help you guys!" However, after much thought, she continued, "Though, in hindsight, that probably wasn't a good idea." She still wanted to assist them in some way. And since it was mentioned that they were after her, she had a plan to let them escape. Once coming up upon a fork, she yelled, "Okay! You guys head back to your skimmers. I'll try to lead them away!"

Before Aerrow could protest to such a plan, she instantly left the group and went the other way. He cursed under his breath. Why did she have to make things much more difficult? "I'll get her back! You'll have to go on ahead without me!"

"No way, Aerrow! We'll have to get her out when we fly by the ship!" Piper replied as everyone continued to run. The sky knight felt that it was wrong, but he didn't want to risk a chance with a mega storm either. He just hoped that they find her before the worst happens.

* * *

Emma quickly slid into one of the cannon rooms after she had left the group. Hopefully, her plan of leading the Murk Raiders away from the group had worked. And now, it was time for the escape where she waits outside the ship for a skimmer to pass by, hop on it, and fly away from the place.

… She should have thought about this more thoroughly.

'Dang me and my natural ability of not thinking two steps ahead.' Despite that, she still went with the plan anyway. She messed with the levers and switches until one of them activated the cannons and the windows. Afterwards, she started to climb up and crawled carefully outside the ship, scared out of her wits. 'I hate heights.'

Midway through, the doors opened to reveal Scabulous, hot on her trail. He turned his head to find her on the cannon, his face now replacing rage with almost terror. "Girly! Stop! Just come back down, will ya? We'll have a nice talk and go out for snacks."

"No! I'm just escaping from here! There is no way I'm going to be captured by Murk Raiders!" the Gaian yelled back before moving more outside of the ship. The captain breathed out a side of relief, but not before racing toward the cannon and edging to her location. There was no way he was going to let her get away after the time he tried to get her before. She wasn't going to get away this time.

The wind brushed hard against her face once outside. It didn't help her with her phobia since she already knew that she was _way _above possible Mt. Everest height. It also didn't help that there was a Murk Raider still chasing after her. It was the scenario of being stuck between a rock and a hard place. However, seeing the Storm Hawks fly out of the ship really helped her mood.

"Guys! I think I see her." The sound of Finn's voice made her sit up and wave her arms so she could get their attention more. The gang took noticed and started to ride toward her. This was it. Even though her plan had a few rough patches, it still worked. However, the winds started to get roughed as everyone looked to find what they all dreaded.

The mega-storm was just in view from behind the ships, heading to them faster than prediction. The shape of it looked like a funnel cloud or tornado with winds moving beyond a hundred miles per hour. It was scraping through the airship graveyard and, it was heading straight at them.

"RUN!" Aerrow yelled as he and everyone else flew away. Emma only watched as they flew, feeling a bit angry that they had left her. Though she couldn't blame them since there was storm coming and, the first thing that someone should do was to run for shelter. In fact, she was going to do that right. She started to crawl back to the inside of the ship, ignoring the smirk the pirate was giving her. However, a strong gust caused her to lose her grip and fall off the cannon.

"NO!" Scabulous shouted as the girl started to fall to the fog. Luckily, more of the gusts whirled past her and pretty soon, she was pretty much flying in the storm. Whether it was a good or bad thing, she wasn't sure. She just felt sick from spinning.

The Murk Raider, either being heroic or foolish, jumped into the whirlwind. He then tried to use the storm winds to head to where the Gaian was spinning around. It only took several minutes until he could grab her and held her close to his body. "Don't worry. I gotcha…"

And the storm carried them to wherever it went.

* * *

A little bit before the incident, Aerrow, Piper, Finn, Junko, and the two Raptor brothers made it back to the _Condor_ and entered onto the bridge. Stork, who had made the prediction that the tempest would hit before they made it out, looked over at the group in shock. He coughed before saying, "Oh, you're back. Imagine that."

The red-haired boy was about to give the orders before noticing a glare from Katie in the foreground. "… Where's my sister?" The group looked a bit depressed before Aerrow decided that she should know the truth about Emma.

"Katie… Emma is-!" Before he could finish, the _Condor_ was already caught by the gale wind forces. It spun around in the air, giving the effect of centripetal force. Everyone was trying to hold onto something tied down. But the ones who didn't were tossed around and being bashed by loose objects. It was definitely a harsh trip.

Moments later, the ship was out of the storm and pretty soon, everyone fell back to the ground. "Is everyone okay?" The sounds of groans answered as the group stood up and stretched their limbs. Yup, everyone was fine. However, Katie still had the severe look on her face.

"… Where is my sister?" she asked again, with severity in her voice. Her seriousness on her sister's whereabouts made everyone in the room cringed.

Aerrow took a deep breath before explaining the circumstances to her. "She went from us to keep the Murk Raiders occupy from us. We last saw her on a cannon before the mega storm hit… We don't know where she is."

"Or if she is alive," Piper continued, looking out at the sky. That caused everyone to worry about the fate of Emma. Whether if she was alive or if she was safe, there was no telling what had happened. One thing was for sure…

They needed to find her.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Argh, multiple distractions and writer's blocks are not a good thing. At least I got something up.

Strange how I notice a pattern in my Gaian stories. I wonder if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I mean, TV shows give spins on plots before their time. But is it okay with my writing? Just wondering so I can try to put a spin on things here.

Also, I was wondering about storms and wind speeds. I might have my facts wrong for this and the next chapter. Sorry for the realists out there.

I would also like to thank Daughter of Sekhmet, Kitten2007, Hawk-Masters, and Cold-heart-Angel23 for the reviews and favs. To Hawk-Masters, I'm sorry I didn't follow your suggestion. I had this plan before. To Cold-heart-Angel, yes, Stork hates germs and any carriers of them. To Daughter of Sekhmet, yes, Snipe is going to be in this; but not yet. And to those who think who "Katie" really is, not telling.

Happy Holidays and please read and review!


	4. Chapter 4: The Wisdom of Reminisce

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 4: The Wisdom of Reminisce_

"Aaaoohhhh…"

Emma groaned as light entered her eyes. She blinked a couple of time, seeing that she was in a different place than the _Condor_. Then, she remembered the Murk Raiders and megastorm, now finally feeling the pain of the experience. Her head hurt, her back hurt, almost all of her body ache from whatever happened. 'Well… I have to check the damage. Hopefully, I am not beyond help.'

Strangely enough, she didn't look as bad as she thought she did. In fact, the Gaian was already patched up with bandages around her left arm, chest, and right leg, with two sticks tied to it indicating of a twisted ankle. On top of the bandages were green glowing stones: two on her arm, two on her mid-section, and one slightly bigger one on her ankle. She wondered who bandaged her wounds.

"Hi ya, girly!" The Gaian's eyes rolled when she found out who it was. It seemed that the pirate had also survived the crash too. She looked up at him to see that he was standing, holding various devices, and hiding the fact that he was injured too. Strangely enough, she had wondered why he didn't seal his wounds, but then reminded herself that she was still valuable if she was in one piece.

"I've see you've woken up. You probably got a pretty nice nap," He said before setting the various objects down. "Unfortunately, you can't move quite yet. You see, those glowing green stones are actually Nil Crystals and if you move your limps, you'll get backlash."

"… Because Nils can only repair inanimate things, right?" Scabulous soon turned to her when she said that. "… Aerrow kinda had an accident with the engine gears, and we needed to get one for his body. Piper said that Nil Crystals are usually used to repair broken objects, like pipes or windows."

"… So, you've been to Gundstaff's hut?" he asked, curious as to her last so-called adventures. It had been a while since he supposedly saw her at that Dragon Hatchery, and he was more than willingly to listen to what she had to say.

"No, the others did. I think that if I go there, Gundstaff might suspect that I was the descendant of Jack who supposedly stole from his ancestor," she answered back. Even though she really thought that Gundstaff might be related to the Giant from _Jack and the Beanstalk_, she was trying to joke about the situation, even if her company for now might not know.

The pirate listened before inquiring, "So, you're into folklore?" He was quite interested in learning how much she knew about the legends of old Gaia.

"Well, kinda. I'm almost like a story buff, mostly into Fantasy and Sci-fi. I read at times, but I mostly get my info from TV and the inte-" The girl suddenly stopped, before glaring at him. "Nice try, but I'm not talking to you."

Scabulous raised an eyebrow at the statement she made before going into a smirk. "Well, you better learn how to be friendly with me. It's going to be a while for my crew to show up, and your friends will be longer." He suddenly got up and asked, "Do you know _where_ we are?"

Emma blinked before looking around. All she could see were broken down machinery, battered furniture, burnt walls and floors, and signs of Cyclonian activity that was once in this place. "… Some Cyclonian research base?"

"A _secret _Cyclonian research base; almost off the edge of the known Atmos so your friends won't be able to find you anytime soon." He then looked at her and smirked again. "And not just any secret Cyclonian research base. This was where the Murk Raiders were first created."

"… Created?" she asked, before quickly biting her lip. She now was regretting inquiring because now, she knew she was going to get a long back story.

The pirate stretched before beginning, "A long time ago, a man from Gaia who had been imprisoned by someone close to him accidently went through a portal to this very terra. The Cyclonian guards quickly captured and threw him in with some other prisoners. There, he found friends among a merb, a wallop, and a few Alphos."

"… _Alphos_?"

"An amphibian frog race, possibly extinct now," he answered before continuing, "Anyway, he was content with the situation but soon, he found out something was wrong. One by one, the prisoners started to disappear until only he was left. When it was his turn, he soon found out what happened to his friends. You see, the Cyclonis of that time wanted the perfect soldiers to help win the war against the sky knights. So, one of his scientist proposed creating a crystal and use it make that soldier. In other words, he was using the prisoners to test his little theory, turning them into_ grotesque_ monsters.

"The man was in rage by this and went berserk on the Cyclonians. The battle ensued, but he managed to free everyone. However, the so-called scientist lived and transformed both himself and the Gaian into the same monsters he had created. Unfortunately for the scientist, his theory on creating the perfect soldier turned out completely false.

"Afterwards, the prisoners escape, finding a new home in the storm of Terra Deep. And soon, the Murk Raiders soon took flight, hunting for treasure, supplies, and new lands as any pirate should." There was an awkward silence after the tale. Emma didn't know whether to believe it or just call him a blowhard.

"So… That's what you mean by being "created"?" She felt kinda sick to her stomach when hearing about that. Sure, it wasn't like cutting off limps and sewing them into monsters creatures like in the movies. But there was something unnatural about that.

"Well," Scabulous said before stretching again, "If you want to create something that is "invincible", then you have to give and take certain qualities. For us, we were given longevity and a strong immunity, but in return, we gave up our appearance and…" He then looked down in depression. "Became sterilized."

She was shocked before looking down. "I'm… Sorry." She really felt sorry for him. It meant that he and his people couldn't see the joys of having kids… Perhaps it was a good thing.

The pirate then had a hearty laugh before shrugging. "Nah, it's okay. There's more than one way to have kids… And us Murks have that crystal that changed us. So, we won't be dying out any time soon." The girl's jaw dropped when she had heard him say that. And here, she was beginning to feel all sorry for him.

She was about to give him a piece of her mind before he stood up. "Well, might as well get back to scavenging." He started to walk, but then stopped, realizing something again. "As for you, Gaian, don't move. Even if your bones were healed, there's no way off of this terra by regular means, and I know all the secret hiding places here." Then he laughed before leaving.

Emma just watched before closing her eyes. 'Guys, if you're not doing anything important, please help me…'

* * *

"Really? You haven't seen her?" There was some garble before Finn could speak again. "Okay, thanks. Keep in touch." He then put down the communicator before turning Piper. "Well, she isn't on Terra Aquinos."

Piper quickly marked out Terra Aquinos before going back to studying the map. The team was already on the search once fixing the radio. And with her tracer dead, they were exploring every possible place whether it was dangerous or not. So far, three of the Sky Knight terras were crossed out of the possibility zone. With only a few other friendly terras left, it won't be long before they needed to search the unknown, the dangerous, and even the enemy territories.

Aerrow watched as his team worked on Emma's whereabouts. With Junko repairing the damages to the _Condor _and other various vehicles, Piper and Finn were quickly hard at work to narrow down the possible sites. If it was somewhere safe, then it was fine. It was other places that they were worried about, the ones with hostile wildlife and hazardous terrain. And time was a factor here. If there were any injuries and without any medical assistance, she could be impaired for life or worse.

"Have you found my sister yet?" asked a voice, as the sky knight quickly turned to Katie. She seemed to be depressed and somewhat impatience after the storm. It was probably because she was worried about her sister.

Aerrow showed his caring and enthusiastic smile, "Don't worry, Katie. We will find her." He hoped that would comfort her. However when she looked at him, he flinched, thinking that he might have notice a glare underneath her expression of sadness. He shook his head. It was probably just a mind play.

"Hehehehe…"

Everyone then looked over to Stork, who was just piloting the _Condor_ quietly. This had them on edge for a little bit. Who knew what was going on in his paranoid head? Piper, being somewhat curious, asked, "Stork, are you okay?"

"Okay… Okay?" Stork quickly looked at the others, his okay meter now on critical explosion. "I was ready to say goodbye to her! Do you know how much time she was on the _Condor_, contaminating my ship with her fingers! And when we found her sister, I thought I was finally going to have my nice, safe haven back. But nooo… After the run-in with the Murk Raiders and that megastorm, we are not only stuck with her sister but now, two of Repton's idiot brothers!"

"We're here, ya know!"

Everyone now looked over to see Leugy and Spitz. Yes, that was on their list too. Hopefully, Junko was fixing the Bonewing at the moment so they could leave soon.

The merb, not wanting to die from hyperventilation, started to walk back to his room. "Now, if you excuse me, I'll be wearing my Trance Helmet for 36 hours." He soon stopped before looking at the group again, saying, "Oh, and don't sell the _Condor_ like last time, okay?" He soon left the bridge, leaving everyone there in silence.

After a of couple seconds, Aerrow finally broke the hush in the room, "Well, Leugy, you guys can leave once Junko fixes your ride. We could take you there, but we're busy with finding Emma. And there's… well, you know." It seemed pretty clear that he meant that the sky squadron couldn't go anywhere near Terra Bogaton.

Spitz just glared at them before looking away. Leugy, being the nice one of the Raptors, said, "Thank you, Aerrow. I wouldn't have gotten Spitz back without you guys." That was sweet of him to say, even if they were enemies.

"Well, you just stand there until you're ride is done. The rest of my team is still-" Suddenly, Finn tugged on the sky knight's shirt, holding up the communicator. On his face, he held a very scared look, showing that whatever was going on was not good. Instead of questioning what he was doing, he grabbed the communicator. "Hello?"

"_Hello, ssssky knight."_

Everyone froze when they heard Repton's voice over the transmitter. Why the scaled mercenary wanted to talk to the Storm Hawks was really a mystery? He would have just tried to attack them instead of speaking.

"What do you want, Repton?" Aerrow asked with a serious look on his face. He didn't have time for whatever he wanted. The Storm Hawks needed to find Emma before something bad happens.

"_It's very ssssimple, ssssky knight." _There was malice in his voice, meaning that this wasn't a normal threat. _"It sssseemssss that your alliessss have ssssomething of mine. And I want them back!"_

The sky knight blinked before realizing that he might have been talking about his brother. "Repton, actually, your brothers aren't captured. They're really-!" Soon, he became bombarded by the two brothers as they tried to silence him.

"You idiot! Do you want uth to be decapitated?" Spitz whispered. Aerrow stared at them, before remembering that the two would be horribly maimed for going against Repton's orders for the Murk Raiders.

Strangely enough, the raptor kept talking after hearing the strange noises in the background. _"Look! I don't care which terra my idiot brotherssss are on! I just want them back! Otherwisssse, your friend here will sssserve as food for ussss."_

Everyone except the Raptors soon paled before another voice came on speaker. _"Aerrow! I have something important to tell you! However, the Raptors had captured me and-!" _They all recognize that voice to be Starling of the Interceptors. How she ended up as prisoner to one of their worse enemies possible was a mystery.

"… Let her go, Repton," Aerrow said with sternness in his voice. He had no time for this. Emma was somewhere in Atmos and it was his job to find out where she was and fast.

"_Not until I ssssee you give my brotherssss back!" _Repton now seemed past normal negotiation. _"Come to Terra Bogaton and I sssshall give back the Ssssky Knight!" _And with that, entire communications went into static. Afterwards, everyone glared at the two raptor brothers, knowing that this was their fault.

"You need to tell the truth to Repton," Piper told them. It was bad enough that their antics cost them a lot of trouble. Now, it seemed that Repton was thinking that the sky knights had them and was holding Starling for a trade.

"Ohhh, but he'll cream us," whined Leugy, "And he would still have Starling, only he wouldn't have asked for us." That was right. The only reason that Repton was actually trading the Interceptor was because he thought that his brothers were in actually danger.

Without losing momentum, Aerrow looked over at Piper and asked, "What is the best possible choice in this situation?" Right now, he was stuck between rescuing either Emma or Starling. And as of right now, he needed a second opinion on the situation.

The specialist looked over at the sky knight. "Well, our best choice is to continue to look for Emma. Starling is a sky knight and she will find a way to get out. Believe me; she has been in tougher situations than this."

Aerrow smiled with the fact that even alone, Starling could manage just about everything by herself at times. The only reason she would have asked for their help was when she realized that there was a job too big for her. He was about to say the orders until someone else spoke up.

"I think we should trade the raptors for Starling."

Everyone quickly looked over at Katie who had remained calm throughout the whole discussion. "Should we risk Starling's life on if she can escape? Besides, I know my sister. She can survive without us for a little bit."

The sky squadron looked at each other before turning back to her. If the two sisters were related, shouldn't Katie be a lot more worried than she was telling them. "Katie, your sister could be in the Wastelands. Are you saying that you would rather leave her there instead of coming to her aid?"

She just continued to stare at Aerrow. "Like I said before, my sister is a survivor. I have total faith that she will be alive before we find her. However, Starling should be our first priority. She would be extra help on the search. And also, if she does manage to escape, Repton would just go on a rampage with every friendly terra in his path." She suddenly looked away before concluding, "Or so I've heard about his temper."

That was right. Repton would instantly raid other non-protected terras when he found out that he lost his liability for trade. Then, they should deliver both Leugy and Spitz back before anything bad happened. With the way things are looking, they need to save Starling before anything bad happens.

"Okay, Piper and I will go to Bogaton. Junko and Finn can look for Emma." That command seemed simple enough. However, it was met by another complaint from Katie.

"No," she started, "We need everyone to be together for this. Otherwise, Repton might think we're double-crossing him." Aerrow looked over at Katie and was about to say something before getting interrupted by Piper.

"She's has a good point. If he sees anyone of us missing, he might assume that we are going to betray him." That was a pretty good point. Though, Aerrow still wanted to find Emma hopefully alive.

"I don't want her to be in danger. She may not think it, but she is almost like family to us like she is to you." He thought that would help the Gaian's sympathy meter for the moment, but she still showed the same nonchalant face like last time.

Finn, who was overhearing this, had decided to make a suggestion. "Hey, guys, I'll go look for Emma. After all, it's not like Repton is going to be peeved if one of us was gone, right?"

Katie looked at all of them before saying, "Look, I'm saying that it would be best if _all _of us were there. Repton may be an idiot, but he's focus when it comes to duty. We should all go together and that's final." And with that, she quickly left back to her room.

The three Storm Hawks blinked at the scene before looking at each other. That was strange, even for them. They were sure that Katie would at least be a lot more concern about her sister's whereabouts than she shown. She seemed too interested in getting back Starling. However, this still didn't stop the fact that they needed to find Emma.

Aerrow looked over at Finn and said, "Finn, start calling people. We may be going after Starling, but that still doesn't mean we can stop our search." The blonde quickly saluted before going to call. However, he stopped before looking at him again.

"Sky Knights or people that know Emma is a Gaian?" He considered it an important question because A. Emma didn't know many sky knights and B. that many Sky Knights didn't know that she was a Gaian.

"… People who know Emma is a Gaian _and _like her at the moment." He really didn't want anything else going on that leads them to another mess. The sky knight then looked at Piper and commanded, "Piper, go set a course for Bogaton." He soon realized something and included, "And since we don't want Stork to go into a hysterical state…"

Piper got the message of what Aerrow was trying to say. "On it!" She quickly grabbed the map and started to steer the _Condor _toward Bogaton. Luckily, they can return the Raptors, save Starling, and return to the skies before Stork notices what was happening.

Meanwhile, Leugy and Spitz were playing a game of cards until the plump lizard wondered what the Storm Hawks were doing. "Spitz, do you know what they're up to?"

Spitz just sneered before taking another card. "Just ignore them. The thooner we get back home, the better."

* * *

Scabulous had come back from his scavenging with several pieces of junk and a messenger crystal. Emma watched as he fiddled with the thing, hoping that it might be useful in sending a signal to nearby ships. Messenger Crystals were like the telegraph of her world or so Piper had explained. But for some reason, they were still kept around, probably for emergency like these.

Things had become awfully quiet and it started to get on the pirate's nerve. Scabulous, being the social pirate he was, decided to try to converse with the girl about her life. "… So, I heard you were married for a while." She seemed to hear him, but decided to ignore it. "… I bet he _really _was a fox in bed." He then suddenly heard a faint yet anger yelp before she shut herself up. He looked over at her and asked, "Something wrong about that?"

"… None of your business." She sure sounded anger, though she was trying to hide the fact by looking away. Now, the smart idea would be to just leave her alone on the subject. However, by definition, Scabulous wasn't dumb, just reckless.

"Aw, come now, Gaian. It's better to tell people instead of bottling up inside." Then, he stood up and started to move closer her, squatting down next to her. "Besides, I need to check up on your wounds. Do you want to think about that or do you want to talk to me about your problems?"

After thinking about it, she realized that though both options were not to her liking, she would rather talk about her problems than think about him touching her, even if it was in a medical sense. So, she started to tell about her relationship with Dick; how they met, what he did for her, practically everything. And she didn't stop there. She then started to talk about how Earth's morality seemed to have changed in the future. The girl tried to keep everything she witness on neutral grounds, trying to not gain or lose sympathy. However, it really didn't seem to work.

After she ended her account of her experience, she looked to see his reaction, which happened to be a mixture of shock, anger, and pity. "Oh… Oh, kid." He then reached out with his normal hand and patted her head. "That must have been rough for you. Being lead into a guilt trip for marriage is one thing, but…" He was at a loss for words. "No one would ever think of such a payment."

"Yes, you would," she answered back, trying not to look at him. She thought that she was supporting this fact off that he was a pirate. But it not like it matters to her. She was peeved off that he was actually caring about the incident.

"Oh come now!" Scabulous exclaimed, making her face him, "We may be pirates, but we have our morals too. Besides, I doubt that the taping of two people doing it would be much of a payment. Maybe a payment for the perverted mind." He then began to think about it before coming to a conclusion. "Yup, definitely a poor form of payment."

Emma blinked before looking away. "It not like it matters. It was my fault in the first place. I should have been much smarter." She was trying to like she had accepted that fact and was okay with it. However deep down, she was not. She felt used, like it didn't matter what her feelings were. However, she tried to get that out of her head. It seemed selfish.

She suddenly felt her head get slapped from the pirate before hearing him say, "Stop thinking like that! Sure, it may have been your fault, but there were others at fault as well! Your PFE friends just accepted that you and, if you excuse me, your no-good ex-husband should be used as "entertainment". Speaking of your ex-husband, he's just as bad as everyone else in the mess. They could have taken your answer to marriage just fine, see that you had your friends and yourself. But instead, he lied to you; use your feelings and guilt against you. If anyone who is at the most fault, it's him."

The girl began to think about it before asking, "So… I should just forget about it?" She was just joking about that. She wasn't sure of what she was supposed to learn from that.

"No!" he exclaimed, "You should learn a lesson from this. And that lesson is to be more vocal with what your wants and thoughts. If you think something's dumb, say it's dumb. If you want something, go get it. If some guy asks you something that you don't want, just kick him in the crouch." Her eyes went wide at the last suggestion. Back home, her parents would have freaked if she had did something like that.

He then patted her shoulder as he smiled a big grin. "No need to act surprise. I bet if he does it again, you'll do it." She just shook her head. He was just trying to make her feel better.

"Now, as for the plans the PFE government has," the pirate said before crossing his arms to think carefully, "… I could say that what they plan to do might be going overboard on the controlling of citizens through their minds. Though, I can't say I prefer a government in any shape or form."

Emma listened and started to think herself. "… Did something happen to you to think like that?"

Scabulous was surprised when she asked him that. Afterwards, he relaxed a bit and began his tale. "When I was a young lad at the time, my family owned a farm near the edge. My father was a good man and he told me that I can follow my own path. However, some officers at the time wanted that farm. And when he refused, they framed him for something that he didn't do."

She paid attention before closing her eyes. She didn't know that he had that kind of experience, and it seemed sad. But he smirk a big smile before saying, "I don't let that bother me. I just know that dwelling in the past does no good. The best thing to do is to keep going forward."

The Gaian listened to him before yawning. He noticed this and saw the tiredness in her eyes. "You should get some rest. It will help with the healing." She turned to him before raising a suspicious eyebrow. "Don't worry. I'll stay up just to make sure you don't move and to keep watch for any enemies. After all, you are valuable."

"…Okay," she quietly said, before tilting her head back so she could look up at the stars through a broken part of the ceiling. "You know, the Storm Hawks _will _be here before your crew. And when they do, me and my sister will be safely back home."

"You have a sister…" the Murk Raider questioned before realized the other detail, "And she's here, on Atmos?" Emma was too tired to realize that she had blabbed about Katie. She just shut her eyes and went to sleep. He blinked at the sight before he started to think. 'I knew there was something phony about the deal… It seems that we both have been double-crossed, kid.'

* * *

Author's Note:

This chapter was brought to you by MSCK's writing and Hawk-Master's beta-commenting. And also to readers like you!

Yup, since I used some reference to the one-on-one RPs we did, I wanted to see if he was okay with how I did it. Also, I am not sure if I should rate the content higher due to the hidden suggestions you might find (tell me if I should or not). And please don't go into long rants about that subject, just do it for the government thing. I really want to know what your thoughts on mind-control.

In addition, I might not have the accuracy of surviving a storm, though on King of the Hill, Hank only got his clothes torn off. And Hawk told me that I might have gone OOC with Scabulous a little bit on sympathy (I edited it since that comment to make him less sympathetic). If you guys have any problems with this, please tell me.

I also do not own Jack and the Beanstalk (or anything else mention). I just added that bit in for a lark. Though Gundstaff has a giant chicken and the giant in the story had a chicken that laid golden eggs, hmmmm…

I would now like to thank Kitten2007 and Cold-heart-Angel23 for reviewing! For Cold-heart-Angel, you're right about Emma trying to prove herself. Too bad fate aka the person writing this has other plans.

Please Read and Review!


	5. Chapter 5: Future and Past Revealed

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 5: Future and Past Revealed_

_Emma's eyes opened to see her floating in the void of space and time. Everywhere, there were stars, planets, and even galaxies floating around her. And every second, they were moving backwards, forwards, and sideways through time. She blinked before checking out herself to see that she was now wearing a white dress. 'Should have known… This is just a dream.'_

"_Hello!" yelled out a familiar yet annoying voice in her head. She quickly turned to see the same man who had messed with her on Terra Nord and the Slum Markets. Her jaw then suddenly dropped when she saw three more hooded figures with him: one brown with gold trimming, one light blue, and one light black with hood covering his face like a mask._

'_Oh god…' the girl thought with a shocked face, 'There's __**MORE **__of them?' This realization was aggravating on her mind. If one was trouble enough for her, four would be like a nightmare._

_Anyway, all of them were sitting around a floating tea set since there was no table. But surely, Emma felt that this was no tea party. After all, if someone from the real world can invade dreams means that they weren't ordinary. It was after the light blue one was down sipping his tea that he said, "I apologize for intruding in your dream, but we have urgent matters to discuss."_

"…_Okay." Emma was confused by what those "urgent matters" were. In fact, if they were so urgent, why couldn't just discuss it with the Storm Hawks or some other sky squadron. Why did it have to be her?_

_He nodded before continuing, "You see, we are the Guardians of Atmos. You have already met Arygyn." He pointed over at the multi-colored cloaked guy, who waved. Emma's mouth dropped when he told her who the annoying guy was. __**The **__Arygyn, the same guy who had trained the Storm Hawks when the Cyclonians went super strong? "Anyway, we survey this world, recording its events, depict the possible paths, and influence the world to the desire future."_

"_So… Basically, you are saying that you are sort of like gods?" She raised an eyebrow to his explanation, feeling wary of the four now. If they were saying that they were gods, then that could spell out trouble._

"_No, we're not gods." It was now the masked one's turn to speak. "We are just simply watchers, only able to see many possible futures and only act when needed." It seemed to be the one who was the downer, especially when he said, "I knew this was a bad idea."_

_The blue one coughed before speaking again, "My apologizes, but back in the ancient Gaia, your people mistook some Guardians as gods. And thus, they misused their abilities." Now mentioning that, the Gaian did think back to the myths and legends of her world where the Greek Gods had abused humanity in one form or another._

"_But we're not talking about the differences between gods and Guardians," Arygyn said he grasped Emma's shoulder, "We talking about the future of Atmos, or more specifically, your future." The girl was even more bewildered than before. What did they mean by both her and Atmos' future?_

_The black one grumbled after drinking his tea. "You see, our past scribes may have shown different paths, but they still had some consistency to them. But lately, they are becoming more random than before, which could mean trouble. Our theory for that is because of the outside forces lately."_

"… _You mean me, right?" Somehow, she knew this was leading up to her being in Atmos. Not that she felt any more blamed for some Atmos' problems, a lot being not her fault than others._

"_We don't mean that as a bad thing," the blue one politely said, "Guardians are only limited to their world and its people. We can predict their actions, but yours are a little tougher. At times, we have to drive you onto the correct path in order to fulfill our better scribes." She suddenly paled when she began to think back. When she got lost on Terra Nord, when she went to rescue Harrier, when she fought the Dark Ace in that tournament, it was all their doing? She didn't how to feel right at this moment, rage or just plain dumbfounded. However, there was something else that she didn't know. "Also, there is a stronger outside presence that is interfering."_

"… _And that is…?" For some reason, Emma felt that this might lead up to something important, something dangerously important. And it almost scared her to think about it._

_There was silence before the gold one finally spoke, "The azure demon with the red blade…" Everyone looked at him with the sudden feeling of dread. The girl didn't know what kind of demon he was talking about, but the red blade sounded familiar. And that had her on the edge._

_The light blue looked back at her, a sweatdrop forming. "I'm sorry if he confused you. Our master is one of the oldest guardians, even though he doesn't look so." He then coughed before continuing, "Getting back to the subject, we had located a point in time where you will have a chance to go home."_

_Emma perked up at the mention of that. "Really? There's a chance of going back to Earth?" She was excited to hear about that. This meant goodbye being chase and hello lazy rest. For some reason, that didn't come out much better than it sounded._

"_Yes…" Arygyn munched on a powdered donut and shallow. "However, there is also a chance you may not take it. You might decide to help the Storm Hawks in the final battle against Cyclonia." Emma raised an eyebrow at his statement. What would be her reason to do that anyway? She was neutral in this war._

"_Whatever the case is, we're giving you a choice now. You can stay here and mess up more of our scribes, or go back home," The black one grumbled. Even despite his negative attitude, she was still glad about going back to earth. However, she suddenly remembered that she almost forgot something. She immediately looked down in shame._

"… _What about my sister?" The Guardians just stared at her, not sure of what to say. By the look of their faces, it didn't seem like good news. The worse thing that they could tell her was that Katie was going to die for some horrible disease._

_When was a moment later when the gold one finally said, "… Your sister will be saved." And with that, the blue, black, and gold disappeared without any sign of being. Emma was confused by the man's words. What did he mean by her sister will be saved? She was already with the Storm Hawks._

"_Well, that was informational, wasn't it?" Arygyn said as he twirled his staff. The Gaian groaned. She had forgotten that he was still here. "Well, since I'm still here, I might as well train you. You're not a sky knight and you have bad fashion taste, but I can tell you have potential."_

_She started to think about it. Well, he did help with the Storm Hawks, and his "training" could be a good way to have fun here for once. She nodded before stretching her arms high. "So, what are we going to do? Whack-a-Mole or Space Invaders?"_

_The man just continued to smirk his famous smile. "Actually… I considered a simple spar will do." He then pointed his staff over towards another being. Unlike the pervious robed figures, this one was in armored and had a feminine shape about her. Emma gulped as she heard him say, "All you have to do is to defeat her."_

"… _You want me to beat her… In a dress?" She wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Oh yea, all the Storm Hawks get to play games and ride rides. But why was she the one who had the actual real training?_

_The man just shrugged. "Hey, it's your dream. You really shouldn't blame others for your own fantasies." As much as he was annoying, he was right about this being all a dream, her dream. So, she closed her eyes and concentrated on having her regular clothes. It worked._

_She opened her eyes again and stared at herself and then, she looked over at the black-armored warrior. '… Okay, since this is my dream, I should materialize something simple yet effective, possibly a staff or dagger.' Emma focused and before long, a staff appeared in her hands. She smirked before pointing it at her opponent. She was ready._

_It didn't take long before the warrior charged and was about to swing her sword at her. The Gaian quickly anticipated and used the staff to block the attack. However, the sword slashed through staff, making it disappeared. Emma just watched with a panicked look on her face._

"… _Shit." There wasn't a single beat missed for the warrior as she round-housed her opponent. She fell back onto her back, straining at the pain she was feeling. She was about to get up, before the warrior came slashed at her again. She quickly dodged by rolling away. She then got up and imagined a shield, hoping that a defense might work. But instead, the shield broke and disappeared, just like with her staff._

_Attack after attack, Emma summoned a shield, only for it to be destroyed by the warrior's slashes. She grunted silently to herself. How could she win if the things she imagined kept getting destroyed? It was impossible if she didn't know what her weak spot was. She looked over at Arygyn to see if he had any ideas. He was just watching while munching on sky corn. 'Figures…'_

_Her quick-second distraction was just the right time for the warrior to kick her down to the ground. The Gaian landed on her butt and was about to get up again, only to have the tip of her blade pointed at her neck. She freaked out by how close it was. The next wrong move could be her last. Now, she was wondering if this dream was like the others in the Elm Street saga before hearing, "__**Pathetic…**__"_

_Emma blinked before looking up at the warrior. "__**I mean it. All you do is run away and hide behind your so-called friends. You are nothing more than a coward, an easy target for people to use. You let your guilt make it easy for them. You are just weak… Worthless.**__"_

_The girl looked straight at her, knowing that what she was saying was true. But somehow, she was getting angry about it. How could this get to her? It was the very truth… Or maybe it was the opposite. She felt her hands trembling when something snapped inside of her mind._

"_I'm not worthless…"_

_The sudden whisper caused the warrior to lowered her sword and move her head closer. She seemed curious as to why she would have replied that. "__**What was that?**__"_

"_I'M NOT WORTHLESS!" And with that, Emma did a sucker-upper punched at the knight, knocking her helmet off. The warrior fell towards the floor, landing flat on her butt. The girl stared at the sight. Who knew she had that in her? Though considering all, this was still a dream._

_Arygyn just stared, quite impressed by the performance. After a while, he then spoke up in a slight serious tone, just as the warrior started to get up. "If you say that you're not worthless, why do you treat yourself as such?"_

_Emma gasped when she saw the warrior's face. It was herself. And soon, everything turned white._

* * *

Emma saw white light before moving her head. In front of her was Captain Scabulous, who was messing around with his metal claw. Even though he was being quiet about it, she could hear him cursing under his breath. It was a few moments until he noticed that she was already awake.

"Oh, hello there, girly," he greeted with a fake grin, "I see that you're finally awake. You might notice that you are tied up at the moment." She looked to see that she was actually tied down before glaring at him. The pirate replied with a hardy laugh. "Relax; it was just to make sure you didn't move. You were still healing, remember?" Then, he moved over to her and started to untie her.

After she was freed, he started to examine her body again. "… You seemed fine now." He started to take off the Nil Crystals and the bandages on her arm and leg. Emma flexed them before proceeding to remove her chest bandages. But once realizing something, she glared at the pirate.

"… Can I have some space?" He soon realized what she meant and looked away, covering his left peripheral vision. She turned away from him as well and took off her bandages. Once fixing her clothes, she turned around and asked, "Any luck?"

Scabulous turned back around with an answer to that. "Not that I know of. The best thing to do now is to get out of this place and outside. Then, we look for my ship." Strange, he didn't mention anything about other ships. Hopefully, the _Condor_ would be here before his crew came.

With that said, she huffed before walking away, until she felt something grabbed her arm. She looked back to see that he was holding her arm. "Hold on, you may be healed, but you're still not at your peak to go off by yourself. Besides, I know the way out of this place."

As much as Emma hated the idea, she had to admit that she needed his help to get out of here. After that, she could just find a ship that wasn't on her stay-away list. She fully turned to him, bowed, and held her arms up to one side as if to say, "Lead the way, El Capitain."

He noticed her gesture and laughed. "Well, thank you, missy." Thus, the two began their way out; not knowing what was awaiting them.

* * *

It had been several minutes later (more or less, possibly more) and Emma was getting the feeling that they were lost. Of course, the fact that being trapped in an abandoned building did have the disadvantage of being blocked at any turn. She also thought that since Scabulous was a guy, he didn't know where he was actually going. Though obviously, almost everyone seemed to lack the ability to admit mistakes at what they were best at.

Another minute later and the two now seemed to be on the right track. The hallways didn't look like the ones before, although she actually didn't make their path. Anyway, the pirate looked back at her while still walking. "You know, I've been thinking about a lot of things…" After no response, he continued, "One of them was being your sister."

After hearing the mentioning of Katie and scorning herself for mentioning her, she snarled, "Don't you dare go after her." She had finally found her sister. There was no way she was going to lose her again.

He laughed after hearing that. "Relax; I know you would go ballistic if we caught your sister. Besides, why go after a Gaian who has an unknown location when I know where you are going to be with." Emma blushed with shock, being irritated about that. "However, I was thinking that if your sister was captured, then wouldn't be a little strange to see her out when a very _large_ army had her?"

"… How do you know _if_ the Cyclonians had my sister?" For one thing, she had a good hunch of how he knew that. She was just trying to lure him away from the fact that the Cyclonians had her.

He replied, "You were on a Destroyer when I first met you. Who's to say that your sister is possibly in the same condition right now?" Emma glared at him. She already knew that her sister was already with the Storm Hawks. Why was he making it sound like she was still captured by the Talons?

After a while, Scabulous said, "I've also been thinking about that mega-storm that we were caught in… I doubt that was a mega-storm. I know mega-storms, I live in one. That was not a mega-storm."

"How would you know it wasn't a mega-storm?" She glared, hoping that he would have stopped trying to talk to her now. "The radar said that it was."

"But radar can also detect power. Besides, if it were a true mega-storm, we would have been dead." That was true. They only got a few scratches and broken bones out of the whole ordeal. "I also know that if two mega-storms exist in one place, then there's no chance for survival for anyone. My guess is that it was artificially created, possibly by some powerful crystal."

Emma simply rolled her eyes at that statement. For some reason, she felt that he was just making assumptions now. Of course, he was possible right about the storm if they were able to live through it. But still, if it was crystal-generated, then it would take a very powerful person to do that, possible demi-god level.

Suddenly, she was pushed back behind a corner. Before she could yell out for help, her mouth was covered. "Shush! Do you want to be caught?"

She was about to say something else until she heard sounds echoing throughout the hallways. From what she could tell there was scratching and, and it was getting louder. She wondered what it could be. So, she looked at Scabulous with a face that said, "What do you supposed it is?"

He noticed her look and answered, "Could be anything; arachnoid, harpie, who knows." After that answer, they remained silent as whatever the creature was coming this way. The noises it made became louder and louder, definitely heading right for them. It felt like being in one of Stephen King's monster novels now.

The thing making the noise soon passed them in a flurry of flapping wings. They caught sight of a bunch of dark creatures scurrying past them. The strange beings seemed to be in a hurry to get to wherever they were going. Hopefully, it was somewhere far away from them and with food (if they were carnivores). After they had passed and disappeared into some darkness, the two sighed out a breath of relief.

"That was close," Scabulous said as he released the girl, "You know, I have been in this world for around more than 250 years and that was one scary moment. Though, I can't say that Earth during British Rule had scary moments too." The girl's ears picked up what he had said and quickly stared at him. She had realized something about the pirate.

"… You're from Earth…" He soon looked at her with a surprised look on his face. She thought about it some more before saying, "… And not only that, you're probably the same guy from that story, aren't you?"

He stood there silently for a few moments before going back to walking. "Yes, it's the truth. Now, let's get out of this place before something else comes up." He suddenly stopped when he saw her move in front of him. By the look of her face, she seemed to have mixed feelings about the whole insight.

"... You really don't know how to take this news, don't cha?" he said, causing her to be startle, "I wasn't hiding that fact that I was from Gaia like you are. No one has ever asked me about myself except my crew. However, I am not the man back then. I have been reborn here, so I considered this to be my new life. All my ties to that old world have been cut and I made a name here. So, if there is anything else, speak up."

Emma remained silent, trying to think of why she was making a big deal out of it. In the end, she came to the conclusion that since she was new to the whole truth, it scared her a little bit. She shared the same homeland with her foe, though that foe part was based off of her being chased. She relaxed a little bit and was about to apologize before seeing him gone from her frontal view.

"Come on, girly! We still need to get back out of this place!" She jumped at his yell and quickly ran to catch up with him. After that, the two again began to find the exit to the abandoned lab. The time for other truths to appear was coming closer.

* * *

"Finally! Sunlight!"

After a few more hours of exploration, Emma and Scabulous were now at last outside. Light and fresh air came into their eyes and lungs as they took upon the scenery. It was definitely a barren terra with nothing but rocks and the deserted compound. There was some life on it, but was well hidden by the shadows. But they didn't have time to admire the landscape. Now, they needed to wait for people to come rescue them.

… Damn the person who quoted, _"Patience is a virtue"_.

Emma laid flat on her back, staring at the sky and waiting for the Storm Hawks to come and rescue her. And hopefully, it was going to be before the sky pirates come. Until then, she was stuck here with him. Of course, the fact that he was from Earth made her a little curious about the few things. One of the things that she was curious about was if those guardians also kept an eye on him.

"Hey, Scabs." The captain turned to her before she asked, "Did you have any encounter with… any strange beings here?" She tried making it sound as non-conspicuous as possible. She didn't want him to figure out that she was being bugged by four men that turned into birds.

"Oh, you mean the Guardians?" She froze, so much for being non-conspicuous. "Yea, they bothered me before I turned into this. I wouldn't be surprised if they bothered you. I heard from the legends here that they're neither good nor evil and that they only seek to protect and balance the world… They're basically almost like mediators with acting roles."

Emma just rolled her eyes at that. It should have been a simple "Yes or No" answer. She didn't exactly want an explanation for them and how they do things. Although, it probably it was better than listening to a few more hours of silence. Speaking of which, she heard him asked, "Anything else that you want to know?"

She began to think about it. Did she really have anything else to know about this guy? She sighed again knowing that if she didn't say anything, he might start ranting about something else. "… When you said that your home was taken away… Were you talking about the old British government?"

Scabulous looked surprised before rubbing the back of his head in remorse. "Since time has passed on Earth, then it would be old… Aye, 'tis true. I spent my childhood under British rule back home on Ireland. A noble wanted my father's farm and used any means to get it. My father was a great man, always wanted me to follow my passion on the sea. But when seeing him be dragged away like that, it devastated my family…"

"… So, I take it that's the reason you aren't on the Cyclonians' or the sky knight's side?" the girl asked while thinking about his answer. His reason for not joining a side seemed very personal compared to hers. Even though she was with a sky knight squadron, she tried to remain as neutral as possible for the safety of her world. Though, it probably didn't make a difference since Cyclonis was already planning a takeover.

"I have seen governments who have treated people with high class with care while those in poverty have everything taken away," the pirate said with a smile on his face, "I thought I might as well be a pirate since I would have no alliance except to myself and crew. I find that being involved with politics comes out as messy work." Then, there was the sudden sound of a faint horn as he turned to look up at the sky. "Speaking of my crew, I bet that's them right now."

Emma turned her head to see the ship descending down. She frowned, unhappy that the Murk Raiders arrived first. She wanted the Storm Hawks to have come and save her. Now, she had no choice but to come with them unless she made a quick getaway and waited (possible for a long time) for a ship to come. She quietly stood up and crept away until she heard, "They're not going to come this time."

She froze before looking at him with a confused look on her face. "Your friends, you know. They're probably busy right about now." She raised an eyebrow at this, causing him to be irritated. "Think, girl! When your sister got back, did you notice anything strange? Anything that she would normally never do!"

The Gaian began to think about the times with her sister on the _Condor _and for some time, she couldn't find anything wrong. Other than the strange attitude, she seemed perfectly alright. However, there was one thing that kept popping up: Crystals.

Piper did mention that even if someone was gifted in Crystal Mastery, it can take up like a year to master the basics perfectly on their own. And Katie was average and yet, she still seemed pro after being missed for a few months. It couldn't have been her if she was that good with crystals. Emma tried to figure out who it was, before she concluded with a grim face of the person who was on the same level as Piper.

"Oh man…" Her face was now filled with hesitated from realization. "I need to get it back to them. I-I need to help them." She was about to run before feeling her arm get grabbed. She quickly turned to see Scabulous holding her arm.

"You'll be too late. Like I said, ships don't pass by this terra for a long time. The best thing you should do is come with us. You'll be safe from anyone who threatens you." As much as it sounded nice, she really didn't want to be with the Murk Raiders for various reasons. She already had enough experience to judge what was going to happen. So in order to escape his grip, she quickly turned and kicked him right where it hurts the most.

The captain quickly huddled over, letting go of the girl's arm. She then quickly ran towards the rocky cliffs. She continued to run, hearing the ship land, the captain shouting out orders, and his crew frantically searching for her. She quickly stopped behind a rock, almost out of breath.

Emma gripped her chest as she waited for them to leave. There was no way they were going to search the entire terra just for her. It would be too time consuming with such a small group. She just needed to play Hide-and-Seek for a little longer and then, she would be home-free.

Hearing them getting closer, she crawled quickly for another hiding spot. It was a small, dark cave, a perfect size for someone like her to take cover in. Once in, she turned herself around to keep lookout for anyone passing by. So far, she seemed safe. That was until she heard some growling.

The girl turned her head to see a pair of glowing eyes staring at her. The creature that the eyes belong to was carnivorous when she felt sharp fangs dug into her lower leg. She yelped, trying to kick the thing off. But the kicks were useless, and it was now dragging her down deeper into the hole.

She grabbed onto the ground and started to pull herself out. The creature did have endurance, but they were almost equally in strength, her being a little bit more. She slowly started to crawl out with the thing still on her leg. She was determined to get out until she heard some voices.

"Hey! I think I heard her!"

"She must be there!"

The sound of those pirate's voices caused her to let go for a split second. She had forgot about they were still here, looking for her. Now, she had to make the decision of getting out of either being found out by them or to be eaten by some animal. Good thing she didn't have to make that decision. Something else grabbed her shoulder and dragged her out.

She didn't get to see who had saved her from the creature. Once she was out, her savior then knocked her out with some strong chloroform. Strange how since she got to Atmos, she had been knock-out more times than she was back home?

* * *

That night on the _Blood Crow_, all the Murk Raiders were celebrating their latest victory. Sure, they celebrated almost all the time, but now it was special. Now, they had something that no one else in the Atmos has. Tonight, they were in the possession of a captured Gaian.

Scabulous watched his crew drink and sang to their hearts content. He smirked, thinking that they probably didn't know why they were celebrating. Sure, having a Gaian was a very good catch. But this was more along the lines of protecting than anything thing. Watching them, he noticed someone who wasn't taking part of the celebration. He soon walked out; wanting to congratulate the man who had helped them captured her.

Once navigating through the ship's interior, he came upon the prison quarters and opened the door. Once in, he saw a big cloaked man staring into one of the cells. His face remained for his hood was up. But the captain knew that this muscular man recognized the girl's position. He was in a Murk Raider's cell once.

"Relax, I doubt she has any more tricks up her sleeves," Scabulous said before letting out a sinister chuckle. This caused the man to jumped and turned to face him. "… You did a good job today. We have captured the Gaian and that means you'll get a reward."

The cloaked figure stared at him before relaxing. "Then… My services with the Murk Raiders are done?" Instead of staring at him with a black stare, the pirate broke out into a loud cackle.

"Actually…" His left hand slowly reached into his back pocket and pulled out a glowing green crystal that was emitting some green mist. Scabulous then held it in front of the man as a green flash appeared. This was the man's reward.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Finally! I got this done! Hurray!

Yea, this reveals some big secrets if you haven't read my previous Atmos/Gaia works, one of them being Captain Scabulous is from Earth. This is completely my fanon and shouldn't be taken serious. I was just fuddling around with the notion after hearing him speak.

Speaking of Scabulous, I might do an origin story of him, the creation of the Murk Raiders, and possibly his adventures afterwards. What do you think? Should it be made?

On another note, I am holding a contest for one of my other works, _Piper in Wonderland_. Details are on my page and I am also extending the deadline to May 1st. Until then, I won't update the story. So, if you are interested, go do it! … At your own pace.

I do not own Whack-a-Mole and Space Invaders.

Also, I would like to thank Cold-heart-Angel23 and Kitten2007 for reviewing! Thanks guys!

The next chapter will involve the Storm Hawks during this chapter's time. So, I hope you'll enjoy it next!

And also, Please Read and Review!


	6. Chapter 6: The Revealing of Imposter

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 6: The Revealing of Imposter_

Stork walked back into the bridge with a certain smile on the face. Oh yes, him being under his Trance Helmet certainly helped his mood. Now, he was completely calm and ready for flying the _Condor_. Now, he had nothing serious to worry about… Except for maybe mind worms and the occasional invasion of Space Zombies.

However when he actually looked outside, he noticed that the scenery had changed. Instead of the blue cloudy skies always circling the _Condor_ that he hope to see, it was instead a savannah desert with only a few green trees near the ship. It seemed that his _friends_, or the people who live on his ship, decided to take a little detour to one of the enemy terras in order to deliver their extra passengers home. Of course, Stork let out an unenthusiastic sigh and said, "I knew it."

Ah yes, him being a merb and having a paranoid sixth sense did come in handy at times. He knew that Repton was going to contact them to demand his brothers back. He knew that the lizard was going to threaten them by capturing a sky knight. And he also knew that Aerrow, being the nice guy that he was, would try to help said-sky knight while bringing back Leugy and Spitz. Well, he might as well put up the defense grid in case this was all just a trap.

But when he pulled the lever that activated most of them when he realized that there was no click to signal that they were activated. "That's strange…" Stork tried a couple more times; none of them seem to work. Afterwards, he went to check on the wiring of those traps. Once removing the wall panel and skimming through the wires, he found that most of them were severed by wire scissors. This was very strange, but he had a feeling about where this was leading to.

"Freeze, merb!" And wouldn't you know it, he was finally right again. He stood up and turned around, seeing a small mob of Talon Elites behind him. They were pointing their staves at him, ready to fire if he planned to do something funny. Now, if it was any old time, he probably would just freak out as usually. Luckily, he already planned for this kind of situation.

In one sly movement, he took out a small remote and pressed the red button on it. With that, the ceiling magnet that he installed two months ago turned on. The staves and other metal objects went up to the ceiling by the force of magnification, along with the Talons holding them. The soldiers struggled against the magnet as Stork watched them. "Well, this is certainly not a bad situation. Of course, if there's a person behind me, and there probably is, I guess I'm doom."

And wouldn't you guess it, there was someone behind him. After he had said that, he felt a stick going up against his noggin with extreme force. The merb tumbled onto the floor, peeking up at his assailant before fainting into darkness. He only thought one thing before his conscious slipped. He hated it when he was right.

* * *

All the Raptors scurried away when Repton came marching down towards the dungeon. He was no in a very good mood this day. He was going to give up his latest catch, a good trophy for his collection, in exchange for his dumb brothers. As much as he felt that it was best idea to just let them be, his conscious was telling to get his kin back before his mother's ghost could strike him down with whatever she was planning. He was really going to hate this day a lot.

His mood changed a little bit when he entered the dungeon, seeing his captive trying to picklock the cell lock. He smirked with delight. It seemed that he finally caught her in the act. She had realized that now, even before he snickered, "Thinking of breaking out, are we?"

Starling stopped before looking at Repton. "Why, yes since it would be useless to trade me over in exchange for your so-called capture brothers." She then put away her lock-pick and glared back. "What makes you think that the sky knights even have your brothers? I checked my transmissions and there wasn't any word on your brothers on any terras."

"Do you think I really believe that?" the big lizard growled before grabbing her collar and lifting her up to his face, "I may be working for the Cyclonianssss, but you have no right to drag them into thisssss!"

Starling just stared at him with a stoic look on her face. "… Actually, isn't it you who is dragging them into this?"

Repton growled and was about to show her whose boss before a guard came in. "Sir, the Storm Hawks are here with your brothers." He snarled softly before dropping the sky knight and opening the jail door. Then, he cuffed her wrists in irons and started to lead her. It was only a few minutes later before he heard her speak.

"What makes you so sure that it isn't the Cyclonians who have your brothers?"

He turned to her with a surprised yet intrigued look. "I know that your alliance with them is now shaky. I was thinking that they could have taken them in order to teach you a lesson."

"… And ssssince when you give your enemy your opinion?" he asked her in a snarl. Right now, the raptor was getting pretty tired of the sky knight talking. He might as well throw her off the terra and forget about his brothers if he hadn't promise his mother to protect them.

She glared back with only this to speak of. "I don't want you to make the same mistake I did." She knew from experience that even if someone called themselves your ally, it still didn't mean that you count on them when you need it. When her former sky squadron was attacked by the Raptors, the Sky Council didn't even make an effort to contact help. They said that the attack was a so-called distraction and that they couldn't afford to send some back-up. Though she was now grown up and fully understood their actions, she had a slight grudge against the council.

Repton just glared before exiting the fortress with her. Along with a small guard including Hoerk, they rode their bonewings to where they were supposed to meet. Hopefully, the Storm Hawks won't do any back-stabbing or else he would kill something, whether it was friend or foe.

* * *

Once in a small clearing surrounded by small trees, both the Raptors and the Storm Hawks stood on opposite ends with "captives" in tow. Starling could hardly believe it herself. The young squadron did have Leugy and Spitz, though they didn't look that much captured to her. She turned to Aerrow who showed her, _"Will explain later" _face. Oh, she was so looking forward to whatever he had to explain.

"Okay, we have your brothers. Now, give us back Starling!" Aerrow yelled to the lizards, waiting for their reply. After that Murk Raider fiasco, he would never have thought he would be standing on enemy soil making a trade for a fellow sky knight. How this happened, he was pretty sure it began with Leugy crashing his skimmer into the flight deck. But whatever the case, it was his duty to get Starling back alive.

Unfortunately, Repton had a different idea. "No! You'll give back my brotherssss and I'll give you your Interceptor."

"Hey! That's unfair! We all know you're just going to attack us when we give them back!" Even though Finn's outburst was a bit over exaggerated, but it did ring some truth to it. There was a long list of broken agreements thanks to his treachery.

"How do I know you're not about to do the ssssame thing?" the Raptor leader yelled back, "After all, once you have your ssssky knight, then you'll have no reassson to give me back my worthlesssss brotherssss!" Leugy and Spitz seemed a little bit insulted by their leader's words. A few minutes of arguing who was giving first later, the two squadrons were still at the standpoint where they were before with no sign of a compromise.

Piper sighed, "This is getting us nowhere." She then signaled the group into a huddle and they gathered in order to discuss what to do. "Okay, anyone got any ideas?"

"I thought you were the one with all the ideas," Finn remarked before receiving a glare from her. He sweatdropped as Aerrow sighed. Now was not the time for fighting. They needed to figure out how to get Starling back while not starting some huge battle. He figured they had enough of those for this week.

It was a little while later before Junko spoke up. "Maybe we do this that Mexican Stand-off style, like Emma did with Stork." Aerrow remembered. It seems that Stork stole Finn's guitar to not listen to the "horrible" music. So in retaliations, Finn and Emma stole Stork's Brain-Eating Fly or something repellant. Apparently, it seemed that both parties exchange their trade slowly at the same time until they have what they wanted. And it worked too; Finn got his guitar in one piece and Stork got his repellant back.

Once breaking the huddle, the sky knight turned to Repton with a determined look on his face. "Okay! How 'bout this? We'll trade at the same time. You'll get your brothers and we'll get back Starling, deal?" The Raptor leader seemed to have thought about it by the look on his face. Once breathing out, he had finally realized that he had no choice.

"…Deal." And with that, both leaders approached with captives in hand. The mood of the whole situation was like being in an old Western movie. The tension was building between the two groups as they near each other. While they near each other, it seemed that this will go smoothly. However, there are times when an unseen element enters.

Just as soon as this happen, a barrage of blasts rained down on the scene. Quickly, both the sky knights and Repton got out of the way although Leugy and Spitz were caught in the explosion. Aerrow quickly landed before looking at the two lizard brothers, now blacken and dazed. He then looked up at the skies to see something that was very familiar to him.

"Talons!"

Yes, it was indeed the Cyclonia Talons. A small squadron, led by Ravess herself, was bombarding everyone on the ground with arrows and energy blasts. Now, if it was just the Storm Hawks, then it would be understandable. However, they were firing on at least everyone down there. Using instincts, Aerrow grabbed both the Raptor brothers and went behind a boulder. They may have been enemies, but he still had a duty to protect them.

Strangely enough, Repton was also hiding behind the same boulder as them. Though the scenario didn't project the mood, it now seemed like a good time to find out what was going on. "Hey! I thought that this was just a friendly negotiation!"

"It wasss!" Repton growled at the sky knight, "I'm not sssure how they found out! Thisss was sssupposed to a ssssecret!" By the look on his face, he was telling the truth. Whether it was from embarrassment or feeling that this was his own problem, the raptor didn't want the Cyclonians to find out about the trade.

Aerrow was about to question him again before hearing someone yell. "Leugy! This ith all your fault!" The two then turned to both Leugy and Spitz. Spitz seemed to be very mad while Leugy was just his normal emotional self. This time it was sorrow.

"… I-I was just trying to help," the plump lizard said as he poked his fingers together. As much as he was sorry, he really didn't have any excuse to apologize. He was just doing what he thought was right.

"That'th no excuthse!" Spitz was ready to attack if needed be. "I would have been better off on Terra Deep, not being bombarded here by the Thyclonianth!" Aerrow was about to say something in order to defend Leugy, but was soon stopped by someone else.

"WHAT?"

The three both turned their heads to see Repton, who looked like he was now ready to tear them apart. "You went to Terra Deep… _**On your own**_!" Both raptors were now trembling with fear, feeling the rage of their older brother. "Idiotsssss! I had ordered you not to go there!"

After that statement, Spitz glared at Repton with equal fury. "Tho? You have never done anything to kill them! All you keep thaying ith that you're waiting for the Thyclonianth to give you thome thpethial weapon to kill him!" The vibes radiating from the two was making both Leugy and Aerrow feel very uncomfortable. The sky knight sighed because they definitely didn't need this.

"Will you guys stop fighting?" Aerrow yelled as he looked in between the two, "Spitz, I know you want revenge for what the Murk Raiders did, but I think Repton is just looking out for your well-being. And Repton, I already rescued your brothers and this isn't the right time to kill them! So, can we just stop yelling?"

Everyone from behind the rock stared at him with a shocked face. It was only a few second later that Repton made a soft, conceding growl. "… Fine."

With that settle, Aerrow now had to figure out how to escape with minimum damage. With the Talons barraging the area, his only choice was run to his skimmers before getting hit. After all, he already safely returned Leugy and Spitz. Although, his conscious was telling him that he should leave the Raptors like this. "Repton, did you think you need help handling these Talons?"

The lizard turned to him and answered, "I don't need help dealing with them from you!" Well, that was a definite yes. He looked back to his team, who were quite alive thanks to Piper and Finn's long-range attacks. He waited for an opening before running over to them as fast as he could. It looked like he was going to make it. However halfway through the dash, he looked a little to his side to see a Switchblade, ready to strike at him.

For a split second, he tried to figure out what to do. There was no way he could dodge in time, and it could leave him open for another attack. An attack may do though there was still a chance of another getting attack again. Nevertheless, he went to grab his daggers, ready to strike at the vehicle. Strangely enough, he didn't even need to attack. The Talon soon fell from his bike by a glowing boomerang.

Aerrow blinked before turning back to Repton. He was clearly in thrown position with a face that said, _"What are you waiting for? Get going!"_. The sky knight nodded before headed to his group. Once they were together. They quickly got on their skimmers and rode off to the _Condor_. Oddly, the Cyclonians didn't go after them. Instead, Ravess and the rest flew down to meet up Raptors and she didn't look very happy.

"What is the meaning of this?" she yelled as she glared at the lizard's leader, "How dare you attack us when you are under our contract!" Repton glared back with anger raging inside him. Why were they the ones asking when it should have been him instead?

"How dare I? How dare you? You have no right to be on my terra, essspecially when I have important bussssinessss!" Both Talons and Raptors quaked in fear of his fury. However, Ravess remained calm with her own convictions.

"Well, it seems your_ business_ was trading away your sky knight prisoner to _our _greatest enemy." Well, that may have been true to some extent. But still, Repton still has his reason for doing so.

With one snarl, he shouted back, "I _had _to! They resssscued my brothersss from Murk Raidersss and-!" He then became shocked when he realized what had occurred. He couldn't even believe it himself and yet he had heard it from his own kin. "… They sssaved my brotherssss."

Ravess raised an eyebrow at Repton's strange behavior. "… Well, you can worry about it later. Right now, we need to get them… Luckily, she's still on the ship with help." That ended with a slyly smile on her face.

* * *

"So, Spitz was actually captured by Murk Raiders and Leugy came to you to help him. And then after you did, Repton called, thinking that they have been captured by sky knights. And you decided to humor him…" Starling had listened to Aerrow's explanation of why they were in this mess as they rode away from the conflict. Once thinking it over in her head, she replied, "You know, that's possibly the strangest story I ever heard."

"Well, we're glad this will be over when we get off this terra," Aerrow said as they rode towards the _Condor_. Yes, even he couldn't believe of the events that happened. But now, they could all go back to looking for Emma. Upon reaching the ship, the crew quickly got abroad and hopped off their bikes. Suddenly, he remembered something that Starling had said before. "Oh yea, there was something that you want to tell us, right?"

Starling got off the skimmer she was riding before turning to the team. "Oh yes, about that, it's-" Before she could finished her answer, Katie came through the door, a kind smile placed on her face.

"Hey, guys, how was the trade?" she asked, before having a Hanzo crystal pointing at her. The Storm Hawks were shocked by Starling's behavior towards Katie. She should have known that this was the lost sister that they have been searching for.

Piper quickly walked up to the Interceptor and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Chill, Starling, I thought that you would recognized Katie after observing her on Cyclonia."

"That's the thing, she is not Katie." Almost everyone went into confusion when she had said that. "That's what I needed to tell you. Cyclonis is tricking you by disguising herself as Katie so she could catch all of you off guard."

Everyone except Katie gasped before turning to her, who apparently was keeping herself calm in this situation. Afterwards, she started to laugh a maniacal laugh that sounded awfully familiar. "Well now, I guess the charade it up," she said, before she pulled out a cloaking crystal and deactivating it. Her appearance started to melt, molding into a different figure. The Storm Hawks watched as she changed from the innocent Katie to someone that they all know and hated.

Master Cyclonis.

Quickly, everyone took out their weapons and pointed them at the empress, who still remained calm by their threatening appearance. She soon broke out into laughter as she grabbed her sides. "Oh, this is all too much." She soon stood up as she wiped a tear from her face. "You know, I was worried that you would discover my little ruse, but seeing you surprised made me realized that you haven't learned from the last incident."

They all blushed when they realized that this was just like the last time Cyclonis snuck onto the ship in disguise and fooled them until the last minute. Heck, she even fooled Radarr by hiding her smell so carefully. Luckily, they didn't do anything that they regret, though Finn was getting close to flirting with "Katie" for the first time.

"Well, you made a pretty big mistake," Aerrow said as he snapped back to reality, "You're pretty much up against all of us." Even if she was alone, Cyclonis was still dangerous by herself. And by the way she was composed; there might have been a trick up her sleeve.

"Well, that's where you're wrong." The empress snapped her fingers and as if on signaled, Talons appeared from out of the shadows, pointing their staves at them. There as a lot of them, more than they could have handled. And worse, the Dark Ace had Stork as a hostage.

"I suggest you surrender if you want to live," The Talon Commander mocked, as the Storm Hawks' carrier pilot glared with an _"I told you so"_ face. Well, as much as it was sensible to surrender, Aerrow was still a sky knight. And a sky knight never gives up, especially to Cyclonians.

He rushed over at the Dark Ace, ready to fight in order to regain the _Condor_ again. The Dark Ace readied his stance, also eager to fight against him. Both clashed swords against each others, struggling in order to not give into the other. Cyclonis watched and sighed. It seemed that she had to do this the hard way.

She took out a Sleeper Crystal and pointed it at Aerrow. A beam of light was materialized from the crystal and went straight to the sky knight. He soon felt really tired. But it wasn't like he was exhausted, it was more like he was being forced to sleep. He collapsed slowly to the floor, trying to stay awake. Unfortunately, the crystal's powers were too much and he soon fell asleep on the floor.

The Storm Hawks and Starling gasped and they looked at Cyclonis. "What did you do to him?" Junko's question exactly portrayed what they were all thinking at hand.

"Oh, don't worry, you'll join him too." Then, the empress shot the Sleeper's energy at the enemy, including the captured Stork. The Dark Ace walked over to her, standing by her side like a royal guard dog. She looked at him and commented, "Seven down, one more to go…"

* * *

Author's Notes:

Again, sorry I took so long. I was busy with school work and Con stuff. Hope you like this all-Storm Hawks chapter. I know I did.

Also, I think I might have to work on one story instead of doing a duel-update with Piper in Wonderland and Uncertain Fate. In order to decide which to update, I shall decide on a coin flip. Heads for Uncertain Fate, Tails for Piper in Wonderland. To know who won, check out the author's update list.

On brighter news, I have regained the ability to upload art onto DeviantArt via scan. If anyone is interested in how I draw, you should check it out. However I should warn you, I'm not as good as many other artist on DA.

I would now like to thank Hawk-Masters, Cold-heart-Angel23, and Kitten2007. And congratulations, Kitten2007, you get a cookie for figuring out Scabs' true identity before anyone else! Also, I'm still thinking about how to starts Scabs' back story.

Well, hope to update again soon!

Please Read and Review!


	7. Chapter 7: Pirated Education

Disclaimer: Characters, settings, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 7: "Pirate"d Education_

Aerrow slammed his fists against the prison bars. How could he have been so blinded? When the so-called imposter told them to _go _to Terra Bogaton, he should have known that she couldn't have been Katie because _she_ would have been at least concern of Emma's well-being. Now, his friends were trapped in a jail cell until the Talons leave with them.

The sky knight looked over at his squadron, who also had the same look of despair on their faces. He felt even guiltier of what had happen. It was his job to protect them and now, they were going to suffer the same fate unless Master Cyclonis had something special planned for each of them. He moved his eyes over to Stork, who was his usual self… times ten.

"Ohhhhh… I should have known it was too good to be true," the merb mused as he sat in his corner, "Yes, Stork, you should have known. Everything that you desire seems to either an illusion or somehow turns against you… At least it's not Mad Beezleworm plague."

Aerrow turned to Piper next, hoping that she had some way of getting them out of this mess. Being the tactician of the group, she might have been thinking about some plan of escape. However, by the look on her face, she seemed to be just as down as everyone else. It was only a few seconds later that she had finally spoken.

"How could I have been so blind?" she questioned herself sadly, "I should have known she was a fake when she knew how to combine crystals. That's like high level Crystal Mastery." Aerrow could tell that she was devastated from the deception. It was the second time that Piper fooled by someone who she thought was a "friend".

He decided that the plans would have to wait until Piper was out of this funk. After all, she wasn't the only one who was down. "Hey, relax, Piper. We were all fool by Master Cyclonis… Again. However, it was with good reason. We all thought _she_ was the real Katie because Emma thought _she_ was. She probably figured out that it was really an imposter but didn't have a chance to tell us."

Everyone in the room gave him the _"Oh, sure, riiight…" _look. He sweatdropped when he saw their looks, knowing what they meant. He knew that Emma had a thing for hiding the truth from them on countless occasions. It was annoying when it came to something important. She was sometimes the first to know and always the last to tell.

It was a few moments afterwards that Junko asked, "So… If Cyclonis has us now, why hasn't she done anything bad to us…? Except she did get us in prison." He was right. Aerrow find it a little suspicious that they were _only_ captured given the history with the Cyclonians. There must have been something else going on around here.

Aerrow then looked over at Starling, knowing that she could shed some light on this situation. "Starling, is there anything else you may like to tell us?" The older sky knight looked over at him with a serious look in her eye. This meant that whatever she was going to say wasn't good.

"Indeed, there is," Starling started before sitting up in a slumped posture, noting the injury from last time, "Cyclonis is almost halfway through the Gaian memory process, and it has already drain Katie to the point of near death. For this, she has two choices: Either she delays the project for something else devastating… Or use her back-up that she had originally had."

Everyone soon paled at what she had said. Cyclonis had planned this all out. She wanted the Storm Hawks vulnerable for an attack and then, they would take Emma back to Cyclonia. But when they decided to help Leugy, she had tried to separate them in order to weaken their defenses. And when that didn't work, she decided to capture them all to leave their Gaian friend unprotected. At the moment, the Talons were in the winning position.

Aerrow then looked at everyone in a serious look. "Okay then, we need to get out of here and fast. Hopefully, Emma is alive and in safe hands."

* * *

Luckily, Emma was alive, but all her terms, she didn't seem to be in safe hands. When she woke up, she found herself in a prison cell abroad the Murk Raiders' ship. The fact that she was on a pirate ship didn't help her nerves, especially when she was dragged out by said-pirates. Luckily, she was ordered to sweep the ship and not anything that was _shameful_.

Though the job was at least decent, it didn't help that the Gaian was a _female _abroad a pirate ship with _male _creatures. Seeing there was a high chance that she could be violated in such a manner. So in order to protect her body from that, she swept the floor in circles, making sure that she wasn't caught off guard. It may have made her dizzy after a while, but it was worth it to keep the last of her purity.

A little bit afterwards, Scabulous walked past by her, noticing her strange movement with sweeping. Not being too busy at the moment, he closely followed after her intend to figuring out what she was doing. He didn't actually get a response right back since the girl was too focus on sweeping the floor. So, he just went and ask, "What are you doing, girly?"

Emma quickly jumped and turned around to see the pirate captain standing behind her. She sighed, even though seeing him was probably the last thing that she wanted. "… I'm cleaning." He gave her an _"I want more than that_" glare, making her sigh some more. "… I'm actually trying to save my behind from being grabbed by leechers."

"That's it? Girlie, we may be pirates, but we are not _that _low to try and violate a young lady." She gave him a _"Yes, you are that low" _glare, causing him to chuckle nervously. Then, he spoke, "Okay, but if that _does _happen, just give them a good whack."

"… You sure?" she asked, feeling a little nervous. It wasn't the fact that she was weak or easily exploitable, but she was worried about being in the wrong when it comes to those situations. Usually in the anime shows that she used to watch, the girls were very harsh in their punishment when they were peeped on, and it wasn't usually the guy's intention in the first place. If that was the case, then she would be rather seen vulnerable than someone who bickers without proof.

"Yes! If someone rubs you the wrong way, just show him you're not an easy catch." While Scabulous was lecturing her on how to be a proper woman, one of the Murk Raiders took this opportunity to sneak up behind her. He then grabbed her backside in a sexual grope. Emma quickly froze before, whether out of instinct or rage, whacking the Murk Raider with the broom. The nameless pirate fell onto the floor from the attack with stars circling around his head.

Emma looked nervously at the victim as Scabulous examined the scene. "… Next lesson, damage control."

* * *

After Emma had swept the entire deck (which took almost three hours), her next chore was cleaning the kitchen. And from the looks of the place, the kitchen _really _needed cleaning. The pots were covered in encrusted food and rust, there were dark stains all over the floor, the walls were drenched in oils and other mysterious liquids; this was kitchen hell.

"… That settles it, I'm officially the wench," Emma said as she examined the entire room. She didn't want to admit it but with the cleaning she was doing, she was definitely there to do all the "woman's" work that Earth women had fought against in the 1960's. She _could _just go off to do something else. However, she was on a pirate airship and knowing the Murk Raiders and their captain, she would have been hung outside of the ship hovering several thousand feet over the Wastelands. So, she decided to clean the kitchen before she was thrown overboard. And who knows? With her skills, she could probably make it _look _clean in under a half an hour.

Two hours later, the kitchen still looked like a cleaning maid's nightmare.

Flat on her butt, Emma sat and stared at the still-messy kitchen. It was still messy as ever, only making one small visible dent in the dirty dishes. The rest of it, however, was not even fit to serve the dead, or a fast-food crowd. If doing the dishes took about two hours, it would be a week before this place would be sparkling.

A little bit later, Scabulous entered the kitchen, shouting, "Okay! Cleaning's done! Now…" He then picked up the girl and started to drag her away. "It's time for other things!" Emma blinked at him before looking back at the kitchen. Even though she was saved from it, she felt a little awkward for leaving it as a train wreck plus a nuclear disaster.

She looked back at the captain and asked, "Should I finish the kitchen?"

He looked back at her and answered, "It will be clean… Someday. Besides, it would have been clean sooner if your Storm Hawk friends let us have out way." Emma sweatdropped nervously at the thought of that. If the Storm Hawks did that, she would have been in pirate hands sooner too.

* * *

The two were soon in what could consider being a library. There were books everywhere in the room, on the old-looking bookshelves to the floors where they covered it in a messy, opened pile. There were wide books that could possible hold almost knowledge of the entire universe to small pamphlets and flyers. Staring at it, Emma wanted to know what was in these books that made Pirates steal them. Too bad she couldn't read Atmosian to know.

"I'm not sure how it is on modern Gaia but in my time, lot of our knowledge was restricted to the elite…" Scabulous started to gather books from the shelves and floor. "That's why it's important to take what you can get and use it to your advantage. Without knowledge, you can never know the world to change it." Once he picked out a few books, he set them in front of Emma, asking, "Now, can you read Atmosian?"

"No." Of course, she couldn't read Atmosian. She never learned and probably should. It would help to know when she was being tricked.

Scabulous raised an eyebrow at her answer. "Okay, then let me rephrase that: Can you read English?" The Gaian nodded very promptly. "Good! Atmosian is better much derived the Latin alphabet, with some ancient desert nomadic and sinoxenic strokes. If you squint hard enough, you can make out what is written." He then set the books down, grabbing Emma and setting her down too. "Now, I want you to read aloud these for today, beginning with…" He then skimmed the pages of a large book until reaching a page. Then, he pointed to a sentence near the middle of the page, "That."

Emma gulped before looking at the page. She hated reading out-loud. It had brought back bad memories from her elementary school days when she had to read from the English textbook. She still carried the some of the problems from that time; stuttering, mispronouncing certain words, and inadequate pauses. And just like with cleaning the kitchen, she knew there would be punishment if she didn't do it. She sighed and began reading.

"Th-_Though once consider _B-b-_barbarians, the people of Gaia soon became hidden _sin-_symbols for the_…_ uprising sky knights. It was they, the ones who had lived under the_…t-_tyranny of the Gods, Cyclonia and their own that stood up against the old _unpi-_empire with nothing but their own tools and the noble virtues: compassion, loyalty, _k-_courage, wisdom, reliability, and_… _justice. It is with these virtues that not only did the Gaian slaves take down the reigning _Sa-sa-_Cyclonia, but the _d-d-_deteriorating Gaia Empire, …Rome._" She took a major pause before continuing again. "_The Sky Knights only wish is to fly in free skies using the same virtues as the Gaians._"

Emma took another pause before looking back at the captain. He motioned her to read it more, wanting to hear the entire thing. She looked back and began to read aloud again. It was strange though, she had felt a little better about being a Gaian in Atmos after reading that paragraph. Maybe Atmosians didn't think she was some sort of fiend after all

* * *

The next day was basically the same with chores. However, instead of reading, Scabulous showed Emma maps of the Atmos. It wasn't much since she had peek at Piper's maps once in a while. Although, the Murk Raiders did have maps that not even the Atmosian library didn't have. They didn't show past Sky's Ends of course, but it did show the areas that not even the Storm Hawks have been too. The point of this was to show the major land masses, territories, and dangerous areas in case she ever got lost. Though the Gaian wasn't going to fly by herself on a skimmer, it was nice to have that kind of knowledge for emergencies.

After that, she was dragged to a clear space on the ship where she was going to battle practice, which she knew she was going to dread. Just like with the Dark Ace, Ravess, and Snipe, she had been practicing her skills in secret in order to win against melee combat. For Scabulous, it was a real no-rules rematch from when the Storm Hawks had rescued her. With the secret training she had been doing, she felt that she wasn't ready yet. She knew that the captain was going to beat her badly.

"Is this really necessary?" Emma asked hesitantly as she held her sword up. Other than the fact that she still wasn't ready for him, she wondered why they were doing it if there was a chance that she could use it against them. After all, she wasn't planning on staying when she wanted to escape and get back to the others.

"Of course it is! You need to defend yourself in case you run into enemies." Scabulous stood in front of her, playing with his sword. "So far, you've been running away, which is pretty good. But what if you can't run, that's when you fight. So… What skills do you possess with sword fighting?"

Emma looked at him before looking at the weapon she held, which was very real. It made her a bit nervous since she only practiced with fake swords. "Well… From what I've see is slash," she swung the sword downwards, "Thrust," she moved forward while stepping out, "Parry," she swung upper-sideways with the blade above, "And from Kendo, Men," She swung the sword downwards, but this time it was a little bit up, "Kote," She swung downward again, but the swing was curved and short, "And Do." She curve-swung the sword downward again, only it was longer.

Scabulous raised an eyebrow at this, confused by the last three in general. But soon, he shook it off and said, "And we already established that you can kick and punch. So, let's get started then." Before another word could be said, the pirate quickly charged at her with his sword yelling out a cry. Emma was slow to notice until he was in her face but was lucky to dodge the attack barely. He was about to attack again before she sidekicked him in the ribs. He stumbled back before smirking, watching her get back on her feet. "Good… Now, we're getting somewhere."

The two rushed at each other, clashing swords with sparking energy. Their practice battle had been fairly moderate in action, just throwing strikes at each other. Their fighting attracted others to watch them fight for simply sport. While watching, the spectators talked among themselves about the little squabble.

"Who do you think will win?"

"The captain, of course."

"Ya sure? He lost last time."

"He was faking last time. That didn't count."

"I don't know. They seem pretty even."

"Nah, the captain will win. You'll see…"

A few seconds later, Emma flew past the crowd's view, her back making contact with the wall. With a face full of pain, she slowly slid down from the wall until her butt landed on the floor. It took her five seconds to reawaken, but it was too late because now she had a blade in front of her face. She looked at the wielder of the blade to see his smug face smiling at her. "And that…" he said while lowering his sword, "Is game, set, match…"

Emma slowly got up, feeling the pain from the spar. It was the same as when she practiced in Kendo recently, which always had her sweating at the end. She didn't how she ended up in that kind of state from just one spar. Maybe it was because they were using real weapons, so her life was on the line. Even so, she felt that she couldn't do another one of those.

"I see you're very capable of protecting yourself… But you need to work on your focus and form," Scabulous spoke as paced in front of her, "You lack focus during your fights because your mind is scattered. You keep thinking and keep asking yourself, "Will I live?" and "Will something go wrong?". Because of this, you can't focus and your body executes poor attacks. At least we have all day to fix that."

Emma gulped when he said that they would have to another match. She had instantly felt her body couldn't take another beating. 'Guys, unless you're having a spa day or something, please hurry.'

* * *

That night, the Murk Raiders were celebrating on the _Blood Crow_ (celebrating was basically a daily thing for pirates). It was a big bash with food, rum, and gambling. Emma, as usually on the pirate ship lately, was serving the crew to their every _food _hunger need, and it was much more difficult than one could think. She had to carry trays after trays to each table and patron, trying to balance so they wouldn't fall over. To make it even more difficult, the Gaian had to stand some of the gross smell coming from most of the food. She had to have her nose plugged with a clothes pin in order to stand it.

Once the crew was completely satisfied, Emma walked out of the room and towards the main deck, sitting down and looking at the sky outside. So far, the skies were partly cloudy with the stars glimmering in the night. This meant that they weren't in Terra Deep yet, but soon she would be. Then when it comes to that, she wondered if the Storm Hawks would save her. After all, they did somehow manage to save the day and her at the same time.

"Not enjoying the party?" asked a voice, causing Emma to jump in shock. As much as it scared her, it was no big surprise that Captain Scabulous followed her. He was keeping a close eye on her in case there was a trick up her sleeve, which she didn't have at the moment. She remained silent for the most part, just going back to staring at the stars.

Seeing how she wasn't answering, he just shook his head at her. "You know… I have a question to ask you." Emma perked up to hear what he had to ask, hoping it wasn't a dumb question. "With all the dangers and annoyances this world has to offer, do you care about it?" That was a strange thing to ask since it came from a supposed criminal. After all, he should have been the last person to ask that.

She took that in for a moment before answering his question. "… I'm not sure… I'm not big about being this high up knowing that a fall will lead to my death… But I think with despite everything I have seen in this world and much more… I think I do care."

"… That's good," the captain replied back before staring at the sky. The entire room became silent with only the background noise of the party. It was only a moment later that he spoke again.

"I think you should tell them."

Emma perked up in confusion. "What?" She knew she had secrets and maybe he knew about some of them. Of course, she didn't know what he was talking about.

"I think you should tell everyone in Atmos about what your future government is actually planning to do here." The girl froze up from that. As much as she would have love to, she still wasn't sure about the situation with them. That and if she did, there was going to be backlash from both sides.

She quickly looked away before speaking in a low voice, "… I can't… But Aerrow kinda knows. He saw firsthand their "new-age" punishment on some guilty but still redeemable men."

"Well, if that's true, why haven't I heard of any annulment of the alliance? Why are you remaining silent over something that involves you too?" Emma remained silent, trying to not show any kind of anxiety. However, Scabulous saw through her act of poise and smiled with assurance. "Unless you're being blackmail…"

She gripped her arm, feeling mixed at this time. "... I'm still not sure about the situation but if I or the Storm Hawks say anything, they'll reveal that I'm a Gaian… And I know what could happen if the entire Atmos found out that I was a Gaian." She then motioned her hand across her neck while making a hissing sound.

Scabulous saw her argument before giving out a big cackle, causing the girl to fall flat on impact. "So, the girl who tries her best, who doesn't show fear, who had faced the terrors of Atmos is afraid of a possible execution for being a Gaian." He then wiped his head, snickering a little bit. "Girly, you have _some_ poor assumptions."

Emma pouted at his response before looking away. "They could, ya know… It was done plenty of times back home. Heck, they even have half a reason to do it."

The pirate then turned serious and said to her, "Whatever you think may happen, it will not. No matter how bad Atmosians, better yet all living beings, may seem, you have to trust in their "what may be little" good nature. Trust seems to be a problem for you, especially to yourself." He then stretched before heading out of the room. "Well, I might as well leave you. By the way, make a decision on your current predicament. It doesn't have to be right for everyone, but it has to be right for you."

Once he was gone, Emma sat up and went back to star-gazing. As she watched the passing scenery, she went back to thinking to the Murk Raider's words. 'He's right. Not saying anything will lead to a bigger mess than the Talons… But can I really go through with everyone here knowing I'm a Gaian?' That question plagued her for the rest of the night.

* * *

Ravess tapped her foot rhythmically on the ground as her fingers drummed impatiently on her hips. She was waiting on Terra Bogaton for the last of their commanders to arrive. She was glad that he had some "important" date when they had captured Starling and the Storm Hawks. However, Master Cyclonis had requested that he be with them when he was done with whatever he was doing. It was the fact that Cyclonis wanted him for what could be their only successful mission in a long time was what worried Ravess the most.

She soon heard the sound of a Heli-blade landing and turned to the vehicle and its rider. "You're late, Snipe," she greeted with her usual irked voice. Her brother quickly got off of his ride and stared her, annoyed by her pesky observations. It was bad enough that he missed capturing the Storm Hawks. He didn't need his sister to remind him.

"I'm here, aren't I?" The giant commander angrily asked before walking towards the hideout. "Come on, I want to have some fun before Cyclonis decides on what to do with them." He was about to take another step until he felt something grabbed his wrist. He looked down to see that the person who stopped him was none other than Ravess.

She looked at him with apprehensive eyes that could very well stare into his soul. "What, exactly, were you doing, _brother_?" Snipe was taken back by her question, knowing that she saying his kin name was not a good thing. However, he soon went back to his usual grumpy face like the matter was nothing.

"Stuff…" he answered back before pulling his arm away, "Why do you care anything?"

"I care because you have been acting strange for some time… Much stranger than usual." Snipe raised an eyebrow at Ravess' accusation while keeping his ill-tempered face. "This is an important mission. Not only do we get that Gaian brat, but the Storm Hawks as well. And frankly, I would not have some strange unseen force ruin it. So, tell me, brother, what _were _you doing?"

Snipe just stared at his sister, trying to keep as calm as he could. "It was nothing you would care about." Then, he started to walk towards the tower, ignoring any glares that his sister was giving him. Ravess knew something was up. Ever since that mission when they were starting as lowly Talons, her brother had acted _like _himself at times, but she knew that there was a deeper message in his performance. However, both the Dark Ace and Cyclonis had told her that it was nothing, to just ignore it and go do her duties. Well, whatever was going on, she was aimed to figure it out. Who knows? She could turn whatever was going on in her favor.

* * *

The next day on the _Blood Crow_, Scabulous wanted to practice fighting with Emma again. However, he had some important things to do first. So until he was done, the Gaian was to do chores on the ship before then. She complied, knowing that there was no other way. After all, she was a prisoner even if no one on the ship acted like she was one.

While sweeping one of the hallways, she began to think what the Murk Raiders were planning with her. She knew that she was a prisoner. After all, she was captured. But at the same time, they were teaching her about Atmos and fighting, and letting her read. Then, there were the "things" that Scabulous was doing today. It seems that whatever he was doing involved almost the entire crew since she hadn't seen any of the notable ones all day. The ones she did saw were just some lackeys, who seem to ignore her while passing by. This could have been a good opportunity to do something.

Emma stopped sweeping, picked up her broom, and casually made her way down to the communications room. Even though it seemed to be empty, she made sure not to attract any attention. When she felt someone was watching her, she went back to fake-sweeping. When someone was coming her way, she tried to hide from their sight. It may have seemed unnecessary but for what she was doing, she didn't want anyone to find out.

Once making it to the room, she looked around for something particular. She looked everywhere on the bridge until she spotted the two-way radio on the desk. Finally, she can now call for an S.O.S message to the Storm Hawks… if they were alright. She started to reach for it, her hand shaking nervously. She needed to make it quick and silent so she wouldn't get caught by the Murk Raiders.

Apparently, someone else had the same idea as the radio started to ring out loud. She jumped back, not sure if she should answer it and get caught doing so. Luckily, she didn't need to make it when she heard footsteps coming her way. Quickly, she hid in broom closet that was station there.

Emma peeked out to from the closet to see a Murk Raider grunt coming in. "I'm coming! I'm coming!" He quickly grabbed the receiver and answered, "What do you want?" There was a quiet answer that Emma couldn't make out, but the voice sounded very familiar. Once hearing the answer, the Murk Raider went over to the intercom and called, "Captain! There's someone on the line for you."

The girl cringed as she thought about more pirates coming in here. It was difficult to keep silent with just only one in the room. Moments later, Captain Scabulous along with some others entered the room, causing her to shake with fear. However, she controlled herself a second later and went back to spying. She watched the pirate get fixed up as if he was going to a fancy gala, before he sat down and answered, "Yes…?"

"_Hello, Captain."_

Emma froze in her mind as she heard Master Cyclonis' voice on the radio. She definitely didn't want to hear that ever since she had figured out that the empress was disguised as her sister. Knowing that this could have meant her well being, she continued to listen to what they had to say.

The captain seemed to have smirked at the sound of Cyclonis' voice as if he was expecting her. "Why, hello there, Cyclonis. Asking for business? Must be since you are speaking with me directly _instead _ofusing one of your lackeys to contact you."

"_Well, you could say that…" _Cyclonis spoke with a bit of slyness in her voice. _"I am willing to make a trade with you. You see, I have some new prisoners that I want to torture oh so much. But I am willing to give them to you __**if **__you give me a certain Gaian."_ Emma silently gulped while listening. They were talking about her.

"Oh, and what makes you think I have her?" Scabulous silently lied, tapping his fingers on the table. He sat casually like this was just like any other deal.

"_Don't you think I haven't notice? Ever since you found her at Kraken's Pass, you have chased after her at every moment you had. You definitely have the same plans as us. So, I am giving you an ultimatum." _Cyclonis took a deep before continuing, _"Either give me the girl and I can let you work alongside me with the Storm Hawks as your slaves, or becoming an enemy and I can just use them as my own personal servants."_

Scabulous took a moment to think before replying, "And what makes you think I care about the Storm Brats anyway?" His tone of voice changed to a much more menacing one, even though he still sat casually.

"_I know you like strong workers. I am exchanging the greatest sky knight squadron for one, weak little girl. So, what's it going to be?"_

It seemed like hours as Scabulous was thinking about the deal. He could trade the so-called "most valuable" thing in the Atmos right now for the Storm Hawks. He could have been unstoppable in raiding ships if he could get his new workers tamed. He remained silent, before answering, "No deal." And then, he hung up while laughing.

The pirates began to leave the room, leaving a still hiding Emma in the closet. But unlike them, she wasn't malicious happy, more like she had anxiety. Her worse fears had finally happen. The Talons, the same people that have been thwarted many times, now had the people that had beaten them before. She came out in a closet in a state of shock, not sure of what to do. She could only mutter, "Oh god… Oh god…"

* * *

Cyclonis looked unimpressed as she listened to the white noise on the receiver. For some reason, she had expected a slightly better response. Sighing, she hung up, got out of her chair and walked out, now having time to kill while being in Repton's home. It wasn't before long that the Dark Ace walked up to her, asking, "So, did he accept your offer?"

"Sadly, he didn't," Cyclonis replied as she continued walking, "But that was to be expected from someone like him." The Dark Ace raised an eyebrow at her report, wondering if it was worth to be diplomatic for once.

"Then, why make a deal when you knew very well that wasn't going to work in the first place?" Cyclonis stopped, turned to face her most trusted commander and gave him a smirk that he instantly got and understood her intentions. "… I see. But what if she won't take that chance? What if she didn't hear the two of you talking?"

Cyclonis smirked even more before walking again. "Then, I'll send an invasion to Terra Deep. Either way, I'll have her in my clutches." She had a spring to her step as she chuckled evilly. "I think it's about time to show how _valuable_ she is."

The Dark Ace smirked as he followed behind her. He was going to love what happens next.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Dang! I really need to get these chapters up! I mean it! I need to figure out how I am slow to update!

This chapter is kinda filler but if you squint hard enough, you can see some important plot points in the writing. Other than that, just showing life in captivity.

Also, if you're one of those people who feel like my updates are laggy, you could read _**Slayers Storm**_ which is a Slayers/Storm Hawks crossover drabble/one-shot series. If you don't know what Slayers is, you should probably check it out. It's a great anime series and both series need more recognition.

For thank yous, I give cookies to Kitten2007 and Cold-heart-Angel23 for reviews. I hope to update sooner. I owe that much to my readers.

So, anyway, Please Read and Review!


	8. Chapter 8: Best Served

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 8: Best Served_

'Okay… I can do this. I can do this… I just need to sneak to the hanger bay, get a ride, and fly off to Bogaton without being detected. Then, free the Storm Hawks and let them save the day and live happily ever after… I think I should have thought this out more.'

Emma quietly moved about on the _Blood Crow_, making sure not to create a stir that would awake the Murk Raiders. Of course as far as she knew, most of the pirates were all asleep, tired and drunk from raiding the rum supply. She knew this because she had been the one serving them the alcoholic drink. However, the Gaian considered this to be a blessing. Now, she could get rid of one hard part of this plan. The other hard ones… Not so much.

It was only a few moments later that she finally made it to hanger bay. There, she began searching for a skimmer that could make it in case it was a long flight. Of course, she couldn't tell how low their fuel gauges were since she needed to turn them on to see it… Which would create noise that would alert people, and she definitely didn't want that. But for the most part, they seem to be pretty stable to ride from being constructed with stolen and then customized parts. Shaking her head from deciding on which one to choose, she just grabbed the closest one to her and prepare for her first ride on a skimmer.

'… That didn't sound good,' the Gaian thought, shivering from thinking about it. Ever since she fell from a tree when she was little, she had started to fear high places and tried not to leave solid, stable ground. First, she had stopped climbing up trees. Then slowly, it progressed over the years to the point where she couldn't go onto a balcony, even if it was safe. She was even more nervous since she didn't have any skimmer training, but that wouldn't stop her. She owed the Storm Hawks for what they done for her, and she was going to pay them back even if it meant her life. '… That sounded wrong too.'

Emma quietly walked a few feet with the vehicle in tow, until she heard someone speak up. "Going for a little joyride, aren't we?" She stopped and snarled quietly, realizing that though everyone on the _Blood Crow _was a heavy sleeper, Captain Scabulous was apparently not. He took a few steps away from the doorway, coming closer to the Gaian. Then, he spoke in a cold tone that scared her, "You do know that once you set foot on that terra, you'll fall into their trap? You're basically handing yourself to them."

"… I know," Emma replied in an annoyed tone. She had pretty much figured that it was most likely a trap to get her, though it had a snag of her getting there in the first place since she can't really fly. But that wasn't going to stop her or the fact that this was even a trap. She was about to hop onto the skimmer, before Scabulous' hand grabbed her arm, his face distorted in anger.

"Girly, they're not worth it! This isn't about some trinket or anything like that. This is your life! And you'll be just giving to them like this!" He snapped his fingers instantly, causing the girl to flinch. "Just forget about it. It's not worth the risk. Besides, if they are any good, they can break out by themselves."

The Gaian listened to his words, finding the logic in them. However, her shaking hands told her otherwise. "I… Can't," she finally spoke, her voice cracking up, "They helped me and let me stayed with them, even though I wasn't entirely on their side. I know that they can escape, but… Though I'm not sure if I can really do it, I want to rescue them. I want to rescue them before they are…" She stopped herself, not wanting to think about the sky squadron's predicament.

Scabulous still kept his stern look before it changed into one of remorse. He sighed before letting go of her arm. Then, he moved himself to the other side of the skimmer, grabbing onto it. "Well then, let's get started, shall we?"

Emma raised an eyebrow, repeating the last word, "We?" She was confused by Scabulous' sudden change in decision. Knowing him, it was probably some ploy to let her guard down or something.

"Yes, we. I know very well that you wouldn't back down if I ordered you to do so. And even if you did so, you'll just be depressed because you couldn't do anything." Emma blushed and looked away in embarrassment. "However…" She looked up with puzzlement, wondering what he was going to say next. "This is just a onetime thing. If we fail trying to rescue them, then we go back to the ship _and _you will stay with us, understand?"

The Gaian thought about the proposal before nodding. Right now, she didn't want to think about what would happen if she failed. She was determined to save the Storm Hawks with failure as not an option. She watched as the pirate thoroughly checked the ride before sitting on it. It was a few seconds before he looked over at her with his brows raised. "Well… Are you coming?"

Emma snapped out of her daze muttering, "Oh right." Then, she carefully hopped onto the skimmer and held onto the pirates tightly. Though she had been on a skimmer many times before, the fear of being this high up and falling was still present in her mind.

Scabulous felt the pressure from her grip, coughing out from suffocation. "Geez, girly, it's not _that _scary." After that, he stepped on the petal and, he went riding out of the hanger and off into the sky. Through the air, the two rode into the direction of where Terra Bogaton supposedly was. While the pirate steered among the clouds, Emma had her eyes closed, waiting until they arrived on solid ground again.

And so she waited…

…And waited…

…And waited… Until…

Although her eyes were shut, Emma felt a slight change in the wind as well as a huge weight on top of her. Her eyes open up to see Scabulous fallen unconscious and the skimmer slightly taken a nosedive. That was when her mind comprehended the situation: Somehow Scabulous had fallen unconscious and let go of the steering and ignition. No one steering and no ignition meant that the skimmer was flying on its own. If the skimmer was flying on its own, it meant that it was going to crash into the Wastelands soon. That could be problematic.

Quickly, the Gaian carefully moved the unconscious pirate out of the way (while making sure he was still on the skimmer) and grabbed the steering handles. Once grabbing them and looking through her slightly foggy memory about how planes, motorcycles, and watching the others use their skimmers, she pulled the handles back along with her body, hoping to get lift. It was tough since she didn't exactly know what she was doing and the force of fast wind was keeping the wings locked for downward position. Seeing the Wastelands in view, her mind went from panicked to dread. When it seemed that it was too late, the pirate quickly woke up, grabbed her hands, and directed them in the manner that the vehicle did a u-turn back into the sky.

Once passing through the clouds, Scabulous let go of the girl's hands and relaxed. "Whew… That was a close one, wasn't it?" He looked back at Emma to see her expression, only to receive a cold glare and scorn from her. For a moment, he was scared about what she was thinking in her head.

"… You were faking, weren't you?" She saw right through his trick and was mad that he would risk their lives. He leaned back from her dark tone, shocked to hear the spite in her voice. To cope with this, he looked away and rubbed the back of his head.

Then, Scabulous looked straight at her and replied, "Well, at least it got you flying, right?" The Gaian tilted her head before realizing the situation at hand. She _was _flying. She was at the head, controlling the direction and lift of the vehicle. A strange smile was placed on her face, the pirate noticing it very well. "Enjoying it?"

"… No," Emma answered in a high-pitch tenor. Her fear of high places had now taken over and she froze completely in position. Though she looked collective outside, she was frightened inside. The only reason why she wasn't going into a panic was that one wrong move could lead to death. This didn't bode well in her mind.

Scabulous noticed her awkward silence and sighed. "Relax… You're not going to fall." For the rest of the flight, Emma continued to fly the skimmer with Scabulous still holding her hands on the handles and his foot still on the pedal. At first, it was a moderately slow speed, allowing her to become a little calmer about the flight. But after a while, the speed started to gradually increased causing the wind to past by them in gales. During that time, Emma's mind eased itself from the dangers of the situation to the fun she was having. The wind in her hair reminded her of the childhood days she rode her bike down the hill. Fear changed into adrenaline and caution became delight. Pretty soon, the thrill of the experience had overcome her heart. She was flying and she was enjoying it.

After a while, a terra with savannah plants on them came into their view. "Remember!" The Gaian heard Scabulous yelled, "We don't know if they have their air defense up so fly low! Enough to go under the tree-line, got it?" She nodded while still looking ahead. "Also, don't break until I say so!" The breaking part could be a problem. With how fast they were going, riding on ground could be dangerous than in the air. It would be like the times she had Driver's ED when she was nervous about driving.

As they edge closer to terra, Emma made sure to keep under the trees while Scabulous leveled out so they wouldn't hit the side of the terra. As the past in between the ground and the treetops, the pirate moved her arms and the handles, converting the skimmer from air mode to ground mode. With the conversion, Emma immediately felt that riding on dirt was much harder than flying. Without thinking, she quickly put on the brakes in fear of losing control. Unfortunately, braking hard on a loose sediment ground caused to vehicle to become unstable. It swiveled side to side as if it were to crash. Luckily, the sky pirate curved the skimmer sideways, safely slowing it down to a complete stop.

"Damn it, girly! I thought I told you to break when I said so!" Scabulous exclaimed before he got off the skimmer. The Gaian heard him but remained frozen on the skimmer due to her recent life-threatening situation. She did almost fall and injured herself from a moving vehicle. But she soon got out of it when she noticed the Murk Raider scavenging around the ground. He continued his search until he came upon a motion sensor sticking out of the ground. That could have been problematic.

"Just a few more feet and we would have set this off." Emma sighed in relief, now knowing that she nearly dodged a bad setback. She thought he was going to disabled it now, before she noticed that he waved his hand quickly in front of it, causing the crystal to glow like an alarm. Now, she was worried. He stood back out before saying, "There, now we wait until step two."

'… Step two?' the Gaian thought before getting off the skimmer. "What are you talking about?" Even though she spent a few days on the pirate airship, she still didn't know what went through the captain's head. But she did have a feeling that she wasn't going to like it.

"Simple, attracting certain attention and then using them to our own advantage; more specifically rescuing your friends." Emma soon paled at his answer. That was the opposite of what she needed to do. Besides, attracting Talons wasn't what she needed right now.

She dusted herself off before making her conclusion clear in a quiet manner. "We can't attract attention to us! The point of any rescue mission is not to get caught, especially this early!" They were basically beginning the rescue mission. If they were caught now, that would prove that she was the worst rescuer ever.

"Oh, then how did you plan to do this little rescue?" the pirate mockingly asked as he stared at her, "Walk in, ask really nicely, and hope that they release them?" Emma blushed with embarrassment before looking away angrily. That wasn't her rescue plan, but he did have a point. She didn't have any elaborated plan to get them out. She just had the basic objections but no actually method of completing them. She hoped that she could she'll make it up as she went along. A bad idea, perhaps, but it was the only one she could come up with on short notice.

"Look, girly, Cyclonis isn't going to roll over so easily. After all, she does have the Storm Hawks. What we need to do is trick her. Make her think that she has already won. And for that to happen, we're going to need inside help." As much as she hated to admit it, they were going to need some sort of tactic to make it easier for themselves. With both the Talon army and Raptors here, the two were surely outnumbered and outgunned. He motioned her over to some trees and called, "Now come. We should make temporary camp until their arrival."

Emma reluctantly followed, a little about what was going to happen. While her mind was trying to be positive, she still felt distrust towards whatever the good Captain had planned.

* * *

The raptor guard stared at the screen, noticing a light flashing upon it. Now if this was any other night, he would simply ignore it and go back to do what he was doing before. However, Repton's employers, the "gracious" Talons, were expecting a couple of people to come. So, this meant he needed to report this to a higher ranking officer in the Cyclonian army, even if it meant something insignificant. Man, did it suck to work on his day-off.

Of course before he could find the appropriate commander he needed to talk to, the raptor guard was soon grabbed by Repton as he hissed. "What do you have to report?" He gulped at the sight at his leader, knowing what would happen if he did not comply. After all, he was the ruthless sovereign of Terra Bogaton and the Raptors.

"There seems to be an intruder near our terra's south border. However, it is still uncertain to tell." Repton growled before pushing the grunt down. Then swiftly, he headed towards the balcony, took out a spyglass and grazed through it towards the south area. He could only see the outlines of trees because of the darkness, but he could tell there was something there by the rough movement of the vegetation. Growling at the thought of _him_ being on his terra once more, he put away his spy glass and headed to his skimmer. Tonight, the raptor was going to make sure his mother was avenged.

Heading towards the garage, he went to set up his skimmer before hearing someone yelled, "HOLD IT!" He stopped momentarily before turning around to see his brothers standing behind him. They looked determined (or almost determined in the case of Leugy) for something. It was a moment later that Spitz stepped forward and spoke, "We wanna go with ya, botth!"

Instead of forcing himself into accepting their help like before, he growled, "No! You three are to sssstay here and wait until I come back!" Even though he had used his menacing tone which had scared them many times before, the three still stood there, not flinching at his authority. It was a strange sight to behold since they would always coward before him.

"Repton…" Spitz said in the still rebellious yet calm tone, "We're going with you." Again, Repton tried to put his foot down by looking terrifying but still, his brothers didn't flinch. "Look, we don't care what you thay anymore! It'th bad enough you didn't really tell uth about mother. Now, you're going to deny uth helping you killing the one rethonthible! Well, guetth what! We're forming our own thquadron and we're going to take down mother'th killer firtht!"

Repton raised an eyebrow, wondering if it was appropriate to laugh at Spitz's outburst. He decided against it when Hoerk started to pinch the skinny lizard's face, wanting to know _who _was going to be leader of the new squadron. Soon after, the two started to go after each other while Repton facepalmed at the sight. Even when they were serious, his brothers somehow find a way to mess it up. He went back to fixing his bonewing, ignoring the scrapple going on behind him. His patience almost grew thin and he wanted to attack the two for wasting his time until he noticed Leugy approaching his left side.

"Please, boss," the pudgy lizard pleaded with his hands together, "We want to help. We promise not to botch it like we usually do." As much as Repton wanted to really kick his brothers and go back to his important vendetta, the look on his brother's face made him think for a moment. It was then he soon realized that he didn't really have a choice in the matter.

He growled softly under his breath "Fine, you can come…" The two fighting Raptors quickly stopped, staring at disbelief. Leugy stared also, confused by Repton's sudden change of heart. Before they could question, he was already on his ride before snarling, "But you three are to make ssssure that no one comessss between him and me! Got it!"

The three quickly nodded then saluted, quickly scrambling to their bonewings afterwards. Once all of them mounted, Repton revved his ride before heading out, his brothers soon following after him. Despite his determination on bringing down his mother's killer, he had now realized the consequences for his next set of actions. The Cyclonians were here and they were waiting for their visitor to arrive with trade for reward. And while Cyclonis was willing to deal with his kind, the Raptor leader had other plans that he would have to answer to later. Tonight, his revenge and bloodlust would finally be fulfilled.

* * *

Emma kept watched, trying to keep herself calm as she and Scabulous waited. Right now, she really needed a watch because it felt like they have been waiting for hours more than minutes. However, the knowledge that they were now being expected had made her uneasy to keep track of time. Noticing her anxiety, Scabulous spoke up, "Relax… Nervousness leads to sloppiness."

The girl looked over at the Murk Raider, who was sitting down and drawing a plan in the dirt. Unlike herself, he seemed very calm about the situation though he wasn't getting anything out of this. That was when she realized something that seemed funny about her situation. "… What were you going to do to me?"

"Eh?" Scabulous questioned as he looked up at her. His face twisted into confusion at the fact the girl had taken an interest in what was going to happen to her in his company.

"I expected to be in worse position than what I have seen so far. And although I haven't been specifically pampered, it's definitely better than being locked up or sold to someone seedier than you guys." The pirate captain listened, squinting his eyes in irritation for the moment before laughing obnoxiously loud.

Emma jumped up in fear that he might try to attack her for that question. However, he soon relaxed before answering, "First… me and the boys were going to grab some camera equipment to show our achievement and go like this:" He changed his tone to mocking and waved his hands above his head. "Nanananana! We have a Gaian and you don't!" Emma sighed in response, figuring that what would have happened. "Afterwards, we were going to make you tell us how to get to Earth…"

"… So, you can loot everything valuable, right?" The idea made her pictured a bunch of Murk Raider airships against all of Earth's air force. A part of her wanted to laugh while the other part dreaded what was coming next.

"Well, that's part of it... Mostly, I have some unfinished business." His answer made her curious to what he was talking about. After all, he pretty much knew now that the British Empire "There's someone back home, someone I could call my friend and my enemy. During my younger years, he taught me how to fight in the water and on land." He then looked down in both sadness and anger. "Then again, it was him that got me here in the first place. I was naïve back then, but now I know that he would sacrifice anything to get that back. So before all else, I wish to return to Earth to kill him!"

Emma was shocked by his answer, feeling uneasy by his blood thirst. But then, she remembered the time difference between when he got to Atmos and when she got here. "… Sir, I don't know how to say this but…" He looked over at her, waiting to hear more. "I think your revenge is meaningless now. With how many years have gone by between then and now, I don't think the person you want to kill is alive anymore." He stared at her serious before bursting into a hardy laugh. Once again shocked, Emma somehow felt she wasn't going to get used to that laugh.

"Girly…" Scabulous began while smirking madly, "Even though Atmos seems to be far from reality, there are things on Earth that humanity isn't ready for, things that are beyond the natural laws of logic." The way he had said that made her feel uneasy. But before she could even request him to explain even further, a sound of a twig breaking was hear. Now, the tension of being caught was present again as she looked around to see where it came from. The pirate just chuckled before saying, "It seems that we have company."

Emma continued to look around for possible entrance points while Scabulous stood up and took out his sword. With the brush surrounding the two, it was now likely that they were going to be ambush. They stood there silently for a few seconds until a dark blur pounced out of the bushes and tackled him to the ground. The blur, now revealing to be Repton under the moonlight, had his weapon at the pirate's throat as he snarled, "You sssshall die!"

"You must be Repton!" Scabulous greeted with normal mocking attitude, "A pleasure to meet you." He kicked the Raptor off of him, stood up, and charged in for an attack. Pretty soon, those two were going at it, matching strikes with their respective weapon. Emma stood there, feeling that she would have been a liability if she joined in. But once seeing that he was getting beaten pretty badly, she lost all sensible reasoning and rushed in to help. However, she was soon restrained by Repton's brothers.

"Hey! Let me go!" The Gaian struggled against their grip though her strength wasn't the same as three lizards, two of them being over her weight class. Her arms were being scarred by their rough skin as she continued to resist. Though meaningless, she tried to break free still as the fight continued to break out.

Both Raptor and Murk Raider continued to exchange strikes, neither one giving up so easily. While Repton was overpowering by his rage towards his opponent, Scabulous had the upper hand with his quick thinking and calm composition. Both parties fought vigorously, determined to let the other one fall. When their weapons crossed again, Repton growled, "You may not remember, but you committed murder here."

"Really? You better refreshed my memory. I killed a lot of people in my lifetime." Scabulous stepped aside, dodging the full force of Repton's blast. The raptor snarled, quickly turning around and throwing his boomerang. His opponent ducked under the boomerang, watching as it turned around back at him. He would have dodged again but Repton thrust forward and tackled the pirate to the ground.

"It wasssss the previoussss chief of thissss terra. I wassss young when I sssssaw you kill her with your little toy." The Raptor leader grabbed his boomerang when it came back and pointed at Scabulous' neck. "Ssssssince then, I have been advancing my terra, trading with the Ssssyclonianssss for the necessssssary toolssss to defend thissss terra from your kind and to kill you for what you have down!"

"So, you have a vendetta against me for killing your previous leader and basically sold your terra to a tyrannical army just to achieve it?" Scabulous questioned as he knocked Repton off of him and moved away. "I got to say, that's awfully senseless of you to give up your terra in order to avenge your leader."

Repton glared daggers before yelling, "Sssshe wassss my mother!" He then charged at the sky pirate, swinging his boomerang in a wild manner as he dodged each slash. Now, Scabulous knew what he was talking about. He remembered coming to this terra and fighting a female raptor, only to have her shot and skinned. He remembered his teacher explaining the manner that actions have their consequences, some much more damaging than others.

Meanwhile, Emma still struggled, grunting as the raptor brothers held her tightly. She had forgotten about the fight and now thrashed around to break free of their grasp. But still, it was to no avail. Leugy, feeling a little bit sorry because she was the one who volunteered to help save his brother, apologized, "Sorry, but Repton told us to make sure no one interferes with his fight."

"Who cares?" she yelled loud enough to wake the birds. Next, she headbutted Hoerk, stepped hard on Spitz's foot, and finally bit Leugy's hand. All three raptors yelped as they let go of her and started to rub their sores. That was when she took the opportune moment to move away and face them properly.

"Why you!" All three glared as they positioned themselves to attack her directly. Emma held up her fists knowing that even though she was outnumbered and outmatch, she was willingly to fight it out. They stared down at each other for several seconds. But before they could have attacked one another, a shot was heard that echoed throughout the terra.

Both the Gaian and brothers turned to its source to see Repton being completely frozen in place and Scabulous holding his custom gun out. Smoke was coming out of the gun's barrel, indicating that it had been fired. However, its target was not the raptor itself but a tree that was behind him. "… You have conviction, that I give you points for that." Scabulous holstered his gun back into his vest when he said that. "But as a proper rogue, you should fight your own battles instead of joining up with some spoil brat."

"What do you mean?" Repton questioned in anger, "She had given me the means to fight off your silly pirate fleet! My terra has the best air defenses against any force in the Atmos!"

"True… But what about _her _force?" The Raptors soon became startled by Scabulous' change in tone. "You know that Cyclonis has more than one way to take over a terra and you also know that she will do anything to achieve her goal, even feign friendship for a brief moment." Emma clenched her arm at the mention of it, remembering how Piper felt when she found out her best friend was Cyclonis.

"The moment you signed up with her, you and your entire terra have been enslaved to do her entire bidding. And even though you haven't questioned it before, you should have noticed the signs since you have been failing lately." The lizards then realized that Scabulous had been telling the truth. The Cyclonians were making themselves comfortable on _their _terra and Cyclonis did only act nice when they were successive on a mission. "I'm not sure what your mother would have wanted, but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't want you and your brothers to be walking mats for an empress who doesn't exactly play by the rules."

Repton's mind suffered a realization, almost hearing his mother telling him how disappointed she was in his methods. She had taught him that personal desires can cloud one's mind into seeing the big picture. And now, he realized that he was nothing more than a tool to further the Talon's cause, a means of controlling Terra Bogaton and all the other Raptors. He also understood that it wasn't him that was going to be punished but his brothers when Cyclonis finds out his "little" hunt. Looking up at them, he knew that he would rather punish them himself than let some brat to do it for him.

"… But you don't have to be trap in her web of deception, you know." Repton looked back at the pirate, curious to what he had to say. "If you want to protect your terra from _all _threats then be a true rogue make your stand and break off your alliance with them! Help us free the Storm Hawks from your dungeon and I promise you that the Cyclonians won't bother your terra anymore."

Silence filled the air as Repton started to consider his options. The Murk Raider could have been lying, just to save his own skin and that of his prize. However if he was lying, he would have killed him in the first place instead of aiming at a tree. And there was the fact that Cyclonis was acting all high and mighty around _his _terra. The Raptor leader glared over at Scabulous before finally replying, "Fine, we'll help you… But thissss doesssssn't change anything between usssss!"

"Wouldn't ask for it any other way," Scabulous chuckled before sitting down in the dirt, "Now come, you, me and your brothers need to discuss strategy." Repton, Leugy, Spitz, and Hoerk moved in closer to the Murk Raider, wary at first about what he was planning. Scabulous then looked over at Emma and called, "You two, girly, we need you along with your fancy collar."

"… You mean the tracking device?" Emma said, now walking over to the group, "But I thought it was used to track me." Yea, she pretty much figured out that her collar the Storm Hawks made had a tracking device installed in it. She just didn't say anything because it was irrelevant.

"True. But once we have modified it, we can track to where your friends are being held in, more or less." Once she sat down, Scabulous started to map out the situation again. "Now, here's how it would go…"

As Scabulous was talking about their strategy, the group didn't notice a Night Crawler spying on them through the trees.

* * *

"Ugh, I hate this plan."

"Finn, be quiet!"

"I mean it, why are we the only ones doing this?"

"Well, someone has to take watch in case guards come in here!"

"Can we at least take shifts?"

"Finn!"

As the captured Storm Hawks were pulling through with their escape plan, Piper and Finn were once again arguing over meaningless things. After thinking of a way to get out and back to finding Emma, their plan was to have Finn and Junko dig a tunnel out while the rest keep watch out. Though the plan was the best they could come up with on short notice, it was definitely slow as they only got a couple of feet through. Stork, being the one who was doubting this whole plan, quoted a famous phrase ever heard, "Worst. Escape. Ever."

Junko stopped digging and looked back at his hands, which were all bruised and dirty from breaking out. "Umm, Piper, my hands are getting kinda tired."

"Junko, you're out," Piper said, seeing Junko sighing in relief and moving away. Then she looked over at Starling who was standing against the wall. "Starling, you're in."

Starling walked up to the hole and started to dig along Finn. The blonde, however, looked back at Piper and asked, "I'm tired too. Can I have a break, please?"

"Dig a couple more feet than will talk." Finn groaned in disappointment and went back to digging. Aerrow was watching the scene unfold, thinking about what to do. With the rate they were going, it was going to take too long and they needed to be out of there fast. Their friend was in danger and it was their duty to rescue her before anything bad happens. Hopefully, they'll make it out of here before the Talons get to her.

As he sat and lamented, the sky knight heard the door opening from a distance. "Guards!" he called as the others looked over at him, "Quick, everyone cover!" They wasted no time into covering up their pet project with setting themselves right in of the hole in the wall. When two Talon grunt quickly walk right to their cell, the Storm Hawks plus one Interceptor whistled innocently as if they didn't do anything.

The Cyclonians, confused by their innocent act, decided to ignored their antics and go back to doing what they were supposed to do. Unlocking the door, one of them pointed at Aerrow and called, "You, Master Cyclonis is in need of your services." Though it was a nice request, Aerrow didn't comply knowing that whatever she was planning to do with him wasn't a good thing. Seeing his defiance, one of the Talons grabbed him while the other pointed his staff at the others. The sky knight struggled while his friends tried to advance, but it was pointless since the guard was stronger than him and the other one was threatening his friends.

Once he was out of the prison cell, Aerrow's wrists were soon clasped in shackles that were pretty tight. "This will make sure that you won't cause trouble until later." The guards then walked out with Aerrow in toll, much to his friend's terror. About walking a couple a feet, the guard who placed the shackles onto Aerrow turned around. "Oh, and you should probably stopped digging that tunnel. Cyclonis has already set up defenses to make sure that you won't escape."

If the fact that taking Aerrow away didn't break their spirits, that one definitely did. All their hard work, digging so that could get out was all for naught. Piper, once snapping back to reality, soon asked, "How did Cyclonis know we were digging a tunnel?"

"Who cares!" shouted Finn as he sat on the floor, "This means that I don't have this dig anymore." Piper slapped her face in embarrassment towards her friend's behavior. Somehow, that didn't surprise her.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Remember my New Year's Resolution about updating ever so often? Well, I finally finished a chapter!

Yea, with between school, writer's block, and other personal problems, I definitely sat myself down and went on typing until I could finish this to the end. It was gruesome and tiring, but it was definitely worth it to finish one of my long timing projects! … No, if only I could get some of the others done.

With that said, I have some doubts about this being a good chapter. I can't put my finger on it, but I have mix feelings on whether this is my best or the worse of my writings… Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

Now, I would like to thank Hawk-Masters, Kitten2007, Cold-heart-Angel23, and Kingdom Come for reviewing! Sorry for not updating anytime sooner, especially to you, Cold-heart-Angel23. I'll definitely try to update more frequently… Hopefully…

So, that's it for now!

Please Read and Review!


	9. Chapter 9: A Battle in Darkness

Disclaimer: All characters, settings, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 9: A Battle in Darkness_

As long as man has existed and thought, good and evil had been the very foundation of the universe. When the process of evolution had made human beings into a species that can reason and create, they started to make up societies and among them, laws to determine the true nature of an individual. Over time, these laws grew and changed along with man's intelligence and morality. Although human's virtue had grown, evil still takes root in men's primal urges and uses their own desires and fears to force them into the dark side. Nowadays, it is hard to determine simple nature and actions as good or evil, and turmoil takes control over humanity's mind in the worse of moments.

As the moon hang high over terra Bogaton, Emma carefully peeked out of one of the floor of the Raptor fortress. So far, it had been going smoothly for the escape. She has taken the secret tunnel system that had helped the Storm Hawks before in order to make it inside while the others that were helping out were doing their own thing. Once seeing that the close was clear, she popped out of the hole before checking out her equipment, thinking back to when Scabulous had spoken to her last.

* * *

"_Girly, we know the enemy outmatches us in strength and numbers, so here's what we're going to do. The Raptors are going to chase me across the terra, luring most of the Talon guard away from the fortress. While they're distracted by our antics, you're going to sneak inside using the tunnel system." He then handed her the tunnel map, a dagger, and her tracer. "I rewired the tracer so that instead of being track, you'll be tracking where your friends are… Or close to it. I doubt Cyclonis would keep them together with their gadgets and weapons. If they're not there, your best bet is the dungeons. Nevertheless, your first priority is to find your friends and get them out by any means."_

* * *

The Gaian held the tracer up, watching it blink as she moved it around. Since sound would definitely alert anyone who wasn't gone, a dim light was emitted from the device, blinking faster to determine the location of the Storm Hawks. To her, this had become a survival game of Hot/Cold: Following her only method of tracking while not alerting her presence to anyone here. Sighing, she got up and started to walk down the hallway, carefully watching her surroundings closely.

As Emma made her way through the fortress, she had noticed that it had a chilling atmosphere that made her feel uneasy. Whether it was the darkness that played off of the already menacing décor of the place or the fact that she was probably the only one there, she hated the scariness of walking in the dark with only a small bit of light. Ever since a young age, she always hated horror movies, especially the gory ones where the psychopath killer murdered his victims in interesting ways. Now that she was older, she had gotten used to seeing blood and guts. However, the girl still hated watching horrors movies not because of the blood itself. It was now the tension that freaked her out.

'At least I haven't seen anything that could possibly be a threa-!' She stopped herself in thought, noticing a shadow moved past her. She then prepared herself, getting into a fighting stance and looking around for sight of the figure. Now, she still hadn't notice the thing that had past her, but the movement of shadows had told her that she wasn't alone. Sounds of swift steps and silent screeches echoed throughout the hallway, making it impossible to determine its source. After shaking off the queasiness of trying to find the perpetrator, Emma turned directly to the front, now noticing a cluster of glowing eyes staring back at her. Now, she knew what was causing those sounds.

"Nightcrawlers…"

* * *

"_Nightcrawlers?"_

"_Think of them as a more advanced version from the research that created the Murk Raider," Scabulous explained with seriousness. "I'm sure someone told you about them when you were with the Talons, right?" After much recalling, Emma did realize that she had vaguely seen a couple during her Talon training days along with Aerrow's bedridden days and nodded back at the Captain. "Good, then you know that they are swifter, stronger, and much more cunning than any other creature written. The difference between them and us Murks is that they can't stand sunlight and they're a hundred-percent loyal to Master Cyclonis only. They're also mortal too, but don't try to be heroic against them. Avoid them unless they show hostilities."_

* * *

Following Scabulous' advice, the Gaian held out her dagger she got and backed away slowly, not wanting to take chances with turning her back. If these creatures of darkness were as bad as he said and much more, she didn't need to pick a losing battle while having a greater goal. Strangely enough, the Nightcrawlers didn't move from their position. They just watch her closely as she moved away. This was very strange indeed since she figured they would try to attack her, being a weaker prey and all. Once she was at a safe distance, she turned around and went back to looking for the Storm Hawks by following a tracker. Just to be safe though, she still kept the dagger out.

With the obvious way blocked, Emma now had to find an alternative route to where the prisoners were being kept. Luckily, she had known that there was more than one way to get from one place to the other. Following the tracer and using the process of elimination, she made her way through the fortress again, trying to be a bit stealthier than before. It seemed to working too until she turned the corner to see another bunch of Nightcrawlers waiting. Within the last second, the girl slipped back around and tried making her way back to the starting point. However, her previous way was also blocked with Nightcrawlers as well. She stopped and turned a corner, getting into a sprint to run away. With each path she took, she found other barricades of Nightcrawlers blocking hallways and her running down those that weren't. What was really strange was that even though she was very vulnerable at the moment, they didn't try to attack her in the first place… Almost as if she was being led to somewhere.

Ignoring the tracer and stealth tactics, Emma made her way down the unblocked hallways. As she continued to sprint, she noticed that the space around was becoming darker and more twisted. Chains that were hanging soon became red and flesh-like and sharp weapons transformed into monstrous objects. Now she knew that she was being led. The only reason that the Nightcrawlers didn't attack her even though they had the chance was that someone else had other plans for her, someone that had been expecting her from the very start.

Beating herself up for falling for such an obvious trap, Emma immediately stopped in front of a huge door that, thanks to the reshaping of reality, was definitely one of those horror game "Final Boss" doors. She gulped, knowing that she was surrounded and her only options were A. Walk into obvious trap, B. run away and get killed by Nightcrawlers, or C. Attack and still be killed by Nightcrawlers. Sighing, she chose option A and slowly opened the door. Though she was afraid of what was to come, she still had a mission and people she cared for to save.

Walking in, the darkness enveloped her vision and the blackness showed no other light. Although the dark still scared her, it was much better than seeing the gruesome décor back outside. She took a few steps in, only to hear the door slam shut. The Gaian quickly turned to the source of the noise before looking around. She was now in total darkness, which made her vulnerable to anything in this room. She stayed alert, prepared to take on anything until she heard a familiar voice.

"Hello, Gaian…"

Emma closed her eyes in annoyance before facing the one who was definitely not someone she would be messing with. Master Cyclonis, the empress of all of Cyclonia, stood before her, staff in hand and an evil smirk on her face. Despite seeing Cyclonis' appearance in front of her, Emma still held a nonchalant face much to the young empress' displeasure. "What? No insults? No "witch" remarks?"

"No, calling you a "witch" won't do much," Emma answered in a smooth tone, "Now, "bruja" sounds much more insulting." Cyclonis twitched in annoyance, but remained in her cool disposition. She was the one holding all the cards and both parties knew it.

"You really should be grateful that I've had allowed you to live for this long." Cyclonis sneered at the older girl. "Despite the fact that almost everyone in the Atmos knows, I've figured that I should postpone on killing you least your sister proves to be weakened from me viewing her memories. I had the foresight to know that I had may need of you in the future."

"… Yea, I kinda figured that," Emma muttered as she placed her arms behind her. Unbeknownst to Cyclonis, the Gaian slid a remote out of her sleeve and pressed a button on it. The crystal on it began to blink rapidly. Whether it was sooner or later, she knew she wasn't going to be alone in this any longer.

* * *

"_Oh! I almost forgot," Scabulous said as he tossed a device over to Emma, "If you come across a serious problem, anything you can't handle, you can signal me by pressing the button on it. When that happens, I'll come get ya and we can retreat. But remember, we go back and stay at the ship. So, no objections after I save your hide!"_

* * *

Emma placed the device back into her sleeve and placed her hands into her coat pockets as Cyclonis continued her rant. "You know, I find this very amusing…" Cyclonis approached the Gaian with a smirk on her face. "You, the one who has nothing to do with this world, who _wanted _to remain neutral in this, is trying to rescue my enemy." She then turned around with her back facing her victim. "Tell me, why is that?"

Emma remained silent before answering, "Because as much as I try to remain silent, you and your minions keep dragging me into this. I know this isn't my world and I'm technically not supposed to be messing with it, but I'm not going to stand by and let you or anyone else try to get away with your cruelty. My parents and last decade's heroes taught me better."

Cyclonis stared at her slowly before her lips formed a devilish smile. "So, you wish to protect this?" Their surroundings soon change to a city, very much like the ones on Earth with high skyscrapers and car-filled roads. There were also people in modern clothing there walking, ignoring the two. It was like they were nothing more than ghosts.

The empress continued to smirk as Emma stared at her. "I may not have gathered all that I needed about your world, but I know what it's like there. Your world is full of blind fools who immerse themselves in their own vices. They ignored anything that scares them or anything that's different. Because of this, your world has become wrapped up in their own ignorance."

Emma stared down at Cyclonis as she continued to talk, "Think about it. Why try to fight me when it would be better for all of us just to surrender? After all, it's not like the leaders of your world are doing a better job than I am with Cyclonia. What do you say? If you agree to help me, not only will I release your sister but I shall give you the power to allow you to rule over Gaia as a sovereign."

The Gaian soon looked away and closed her eyes in thought. She kept telling herself that even though Earth had somewhat grown into what Cyclonis said, there were some people that were different than the majority. They were the ones who still had faith in the ideals the forefathers believed in, and none of them would want someone like Cyclonis in charge. 'Captain Scabs, where are you?' It had been several minutes since she sent out the signal and so far, he hadn't appeared to her rescue. It was then at that moment that she remembered what he had said to her before.

* * *

"_Girly, before you leave, I have one last thing to say to you." Emma stopped and raised an eyebrow at Scabulous. "It's very important that you hear this. It may be the last thing that someone will ever tell you."_

"… _I'm listening," Emma finally conceded. Whatever he wanted to say, it had better be quick. Every second they were here, it was a second closer to being discovered._

_The captain coughed and ready himself for what he was about to say. "After some observation from a distance and up close on my ship, I have a few things to say about you." Emma was momentarily dumbfounded before reverting back to her calm composure. Okay, this ought to be interesting. "You're selfish… Lazy… Rude…" Okay, she had to give him that. She was sort of those things._

_She was about to leave again until she heard him yell, "I'm not finished! At times you are rash, naïve, impassive, and inattentive. Your trust is so wavering that you have more faith in your enemies than in your friends. You try to act like some sort of tough girl who doesn't care when in reality you're a scared weakling crybaby that can be very irritated when pushed right." Alright, that was possibly a step too far._

_Emma tried to hide the fact how much she wanted to punch him as he continued his observations. "You're very stubborn, have absolutely no taste, put every hardship onto yourself and…" He took a deep breath before finishing, "And despite all these, you have a good heart. When you see something wrong or someone in need, you do what you can when you can. It is in those times that your best qualities of valor shine through."_

"… _And you're telling me this because?" Emma was a little bit confused by his observational thing. After all the situations she had been in especially right now, she didn't feel like any of those things._

"_Because it's high time for you to accept that you're worth something. Despite if it's to keep your mind clear or you have that little faith in yourself, you need to tell yourself that or else you'll play right into the enemies' hand."_

* * *

Emma clenched her fist as she soon spoke out her answer. "No…" She then looked straight at Cyclonis with fiery passion in her eyes. "Like hell I would ever help you or anyone else that's with you! Even if you offer to free my sister, I would never give myself up just so you can use her again when I become weak! I wouldn't even give myself up just to save the Storm Hawks!"

"… So you simply wish to abandon them?" Cyclonis asked with a sinister tone. By the way she was questioning, she wanted the Gaian to sound like she was heartless.

Emma glared before shaking her head. "No! I'm not going to abandon them! Not after all I've been through! Why would I give up on them after I went through so much effort just to get here! The Storm Hawks had gone to the trouble of helping me a ton of times and they never give up! And my sister, even though we have a difficult relationship, I still care for her! So, no way, Cyclonis! I would rather fight than give myself up!"

Cyclonis stared at her nonchalantly, before fading away into the darkness. "I see… You really are like a Gaian, so stubborn in your thinking." She then walked past her, the room changing back into darkness. "But remember this; I gave you a chance to save you and your loved ones. Now, I guess they have to suffer… A shame, really. There was so much promise"

The sounds of an energy blade echoed through Emma's ears as a sword whirled past her side view. Reacting on instinct, she grabbed the dagger, turned around and swung it at her assailant. She had managed to wound him, seeing the silhouette grabbing his shoulder while hunching down. A feeling of adrenaline coursed through her veins before the light started to diminish the darkness. The room reverted back to normal, revealing to be some sort of trophy room. But she wasn't focused on her surroundings. She paled as she saw that her attacker was none other than Aerrow, the Storm Hawks' sky knight.

Aerrow looked up to notice her, ignoring his injure that he got. "Emma! Get out of here! Cyclonis is-!" Before he could finish his sentence, Cyclonis waved her hand as Aerrow disappeared from sight. She chuckled evilly as Emma's face remained ill.

"It's funny. You wanted to help him and his friends, but instead you've callously injured him." Something in Emma snapped as she glared directly at the empress. She was trying to make the Gaian feel guilty, even though the sky knight could have been under the same effects as her moments before.

Unleashing her anger, Emma gripped the knife and lunged at Master Cyclonis. She was within an inch of stabbing her before Talons quickly swarmed her, holding her back. Cyclonis watched with amusement as the Dark Ace appeared by her side, entertained as she was. Emma growled at the two in kind. Even though she had let her rage get the better of her, she still had backup coming.

However, her hopes were dashed when Cyclonis said, "Oh! And I already knew about your associates in this." She snapped her fingers as the door opened to reveal Scabulous and the Raptors, surrounded by Cyclonians. The Raptors glared at their captors while Scabulous gave out an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, Gaian, but they ambushed us while we were heading back." The Talon guards held their staves close to the prisoners, ready to fire if a sneeze was heard from them.

Cyclonis smirked as walked in front of them. "Well, I was expecting the captain to double cross me." Her feelings of amusement then turned to disappointment as she glared at Repton, saying, "But I never expected you to betray me this soon."

Repton let out a low growl to signify his resentment. "Scabulous warned me of your plans for my terra." Though he still didn't believe it himself, it was now perfectly clear since she had him and his brothers captured along with this sky pirate.

"… Well, I guess this means our partnership is over then." Cyclonis smiled before walking away. "Load them up in Level One of the Cells; put the Storm Hawks in Level Two. Also, make sure our guest is comfortable." The Talons quickly complied, forcing the prisoners to follow them. While a majority of them complied, Emma struggled to break out and attack the young empress. She was mad. Mad that even though she had made it this far, her efforts were all for naught. It was times like these she felt that some benevolent being was twisting morality and fate into something dark.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hurray! I updated again! But oh no! Now, everyone's captured! What would become of them?

With this chapter, I had many scenarios played out in my mind. The first one was scrap for development and story reasons. Then, I had to revise on this a little for character reasons. Hopefully, you readers will like this revision that what I previous thought about doing.

Also, I think I scared myself with the horror part. I've been watching a lot of scary videos on YouTube and I'm not sure about you guys though, but I think I delved a little deeper into the grim stuff. Maybe I should get out while I still have a chance. Quick, recommend me cute fluffy kittens and puppy videos! Silliness aside, I hope my next update will be faster and have better moments than this one did.

I would like to thank Kitten2007 and Cold-heart-Angel23 for reviewing. I can't say what would happen in the future other than this timeline will differ a little from the last thirteen episodes. What those differences are, I can't say yet.

Anyway… Thank You! And please Read and Review!


	10. Chapter 10: Turning the Tables

Disclaimer: All characters, settings, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 10: Turning the Tables_

Aerrow woke up, gasping for breathes of fresh air. He then winched from the minor wound he had received as he started to remember bits and pieces of what had happened. First, he had been taken away from his friends in the dungeons for whatever Cyclonis was planning to do with him. The next moment, he found himself facing Emma only to become unconscious. The rest in between was still a blank to him. Hopefully, he would figure out what was going on before any bad stuff would happen again.

"Aerrow!"

His train of thoughts soon stopped when he was tackled and hugged by his squadron, except for Stork who was leaned against the wall along with Starling. The two watched as Aerrow was embraced by his peers, a bit glad that he was still in one piece. After the group hug, his friends pulled away, showing concern on their faces, especially Piper's. "Aerrow, what happen? How did you get that wound?"

The young sky knight looked away, trying to figure out if it was alright for him to say. After much debate in his head, he turned back to his friends and answered, "It was Emma. I'm not entirely sure on how it was, but I think she was trying to defend herself and accidently strike me."

There was a sudden gasp from everyone, and his answer soon gave raise to even more questions. Finn was especially curious. "Dude, are you sure? I mean, it's safe to assume that it could have been some Cyclonian mind trick."

"… No, it _was_ Emma," Aerrow recalled, despite his hesitations, "However, you could be right about it being a Cyclonian trick." Pretty soon, the conversations turned into a debate on how or why Emma could Aerrow as Starling watched them talk with a calm demeanor. She had a guess of how Emma could do such a thing and more so why a certain someone wanted to have her do that. However, she stayed out of the conversation since there were bigger problems to worry about.

"We can learn about what happened later. Right now, we need to get out of here as soon as possible." The group stopped their discussion and looked over at the Interceptor. They didn't need to be told twice. They knew just how dire their situation was and the consequences of staying without resistance.

"Right," Aerrow nodded before turning to Junko, asking, "Junko, do you think you can check the doors to see if you can ram them." The wallop snapped to attention before getting up and heading over to the cell doors. He checked it by examining the hinges and gently tapping the actual door.

After all the inspection, Junko looked over at the group and gave a thumb's up. "Yea, I think I can ram it." Everyone else sighed in relief. It was a good thing to know that Cyclonia still hasn't changed its security policies.

"Okay, so we just escape and fight off a bunch of Talons," Finn commented, causing everyone else to worry. Yea, there was still that. Being on a Cyclonian cruiser, there was no doubt that their enemy had made sure that if they escape, there were a sheer number of soldiers to stop them. And since there was their little trip to Bogaton, there were probably Raptors too.

"Then, we should prepare ourselves in case we run into Talons or Raptors." The rest nodded and soon, they began formulating an escape plan. Strangely enough, what they didn't know they were going to get help from the unexpected.

* * *

Repton growled as he charged straight at the cell door. He crashed into it, only to recoil back to the other side. He tried and tried again with his brothers watching from a safe distance. He made several attempts to break the door down, but it was to no avail. Nevertheless, he wasn't going to give up, not after what he went through and what lies ahead.

"You know, your attempt of breaking out is ruining my nap." Repton stopped when he heard _him _say that. He glared over at the room next to him, snarling in rage. That _creature _had no right to speak to him, especially after what happened. If he had been in a worse mood, the raptor would have shredded him to bits. (Luckily, they were in separate prisons.)

"Ssssso what?!" Repton yelled loudly, "It'sssss becaussssse of you that my brothersssss and I are in thissss messsss! If I hadn't lissssten to you, I would ssssstill have my terra insssstead of being caged like some animal!"

Scabulous, in counter to his temporary next door neighbor, was lying on a prison bed as he tried to relax. "And if you hadn't listened to me, you will still be a patsy to Cyclonis and the rest of her Talons. Besides, as I told the Gaian, we have to defeat Cyclonis by letting her think she has won."

His answer was met with a furious Raptor cry. "Thinking sssshe hassss won! Csssyclonissss has captured ussss, the Ssssstorm Hawkssss, and the Gaian which would allow her to take over Gaia and Atmossss! Ssssshe has already won, you moron!"

"… Noooo," Scabulous replied as he sat up, "Cyclonis _will_ win when we reach the terra without trying to escape first." He paused in his thoughts as he placed his arms on top of his knees. "Luckily, I have the inside information to know that Cyclonis wanted to have the girl rescue her sky knight friends. I also had the foresight to know what would happen if I didn't deliver her to them… So, I agreed to help her rescue the Storm Hawks and then convinced you to join in. We all then acted as bait under the guises of decoys and rescuer."

After hearing his explanation, all of the Raptors were confused, especially Leugy. "So… That was your plan?"

"Actually, that was the beginning part of my plan. You see, the distress beacon I gave to the Gaian also acted as a low frequency tracer which is right now sending signals over to my fleet." Scabulous grinned like a mad man when he said that. "Right now, a battalion of Raider ships is heading towards to our flight path and when they attack, not only will I have the Gaian but other valuable cargo as well."

"… Tho, what you're thaying ith that you uthe uth ath bait tho that you can thteal cargo from the Talonth?" The three younger brothers had thought the same thought. That pirate was definitely clever to have thought of a back-up plan since the first one would have seemed to fail anyway. Repton, on the other hand, was beyond reason and amazement. He had been deceived by his mother's killer just so he could get some more treasure. The raptor's patience for him had worn out to the point of tearing him limb from limb.

"YOU SSSSON OF A BITCH! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Repton then focused his strength towards breaking into the cell where the pirate was. Scabulous, however, smirked with satisfaction since he knew very well he was safe… At least for now.

'This plan will go smoothly since I know how each piece will play out,' he thought as he relaxed in his cell, 'The hard part is making sure that each piece do their job correctly.'

* * *

Emma sat in what could be considered the "luxury suite" of the ship. It was definitely not like the prison cells since it had a regular bed, other furniture, and even had lighting fixtures though a bit dim still. However, she still considered herself prisoner since she had been captured by the Talons again. In fact, she couldn't even open the door that was so graciously locked by her captors. After trying to open it a few minutes earlier, she decided to not waste her energy and sit on the bed, waiting for some kind of dumb luck miracle that usually happen around these times.

Hearing the door opened, she looked over to see Snipe entering the room and carrying a tray of what appeared to be food. Of all the people she didn't want to see, he was very high on the list. After a second of staring at the brute, she looked away in displeasure. He sneered, noticing her reluctance for his presence. But instead of speaking a word of it, he went over to the nightstand next to the bed and set the tray down.

"You should be glad you're here instead of a cell," he finally spoke up later on, "Your sky knight friends don't have the same comfort as you." Hearing him say that made the girl gripped her arm. Her hand tremble with fury but soon relaxed on its grasp.

"They're not my friends. They're just people I travel with." Even after all she had been through with them, she still didn't know why she considered acquaintances. Maybe it was the idea that after not socializing for so long, she was used to not acknowledging anyone as a friend.

"That's what you keep saying…" Emma heard him scorned in a soft yet malicious tone. Then, she soon felt herself being lifted off the bed by her shirt collar. "Yet you still choose their side over ours!"

She struggled against Snipe's grip as he stared at her, his eyes filled with fury. "But you know you don't have to do this; you still have a chance of being a Talon, even with your attitude. If you don't want to be used as Cyclonis' lab rat then ditch the sky punks, tell us about Gaia, and join us instead."

Emma's eyes widened, shocked as to even how or why he was asking her this. However after thinking it over, she looked away in remorse. She knew she couldn't do that, especially since the Storm Hawks accepted her neutrality in this war. Seeing her lament, Snipe snarled loudly before throwing her against the wall.

"Fine! Be that way! At least I won't have to look at your sorry self anymore!" Wincing in pain, she gripped her badly bruised shoulder and watched as he trudged angrily out of the room. Knowing him, she considered herself lucky with being thrown than something else far worse. She closed her eyes and looked away, trying her best not to scream. Now what's left was to hear the click that would signify the end of her freedom and lastly, her hope of getting home safe.

… No click.

Emma's eyes shot opened before turning to look at the door. Getting up, she carefully walked over to it, being cautious about the whole thing. Once she got there, she clasped the handle and bent it slightly, noticing it move very easily than before. Next, she opened the door slightly and peered outside, seeing nothing but empty hallways. An unlock door, no guards, it sounded like the perfect opportunity to escape.

Before taking her first step outside, the Gaian paused herself. 'Wait! This seems suspicious.' Snipe was an idiot, and yet he couldn't be that stupid to forget locking the door. And despite that it did look empty, there could have been Talons stationed further down the hallway. Should she really risk an attempt of breaking out because of a perfect opportunity?

Emma soon shook her head, snapping out of her thinking trance. At this point, she was ready to take a chance and go with it. She was going to ignore her self-doubt and believe that she will make it out of this along with the Storm Hawks. Carefully, snuck out into the hallway, trying to be as shifty as she can as she moved. After all, she still had to be cautious if there were hidden surprises along the way.

* * *

Cyclonis sat in the bridge of the ship, smirking with pride for what she had done. After all that time they had tried to do so, the Cyclonians finally had captured their enemy, the Storm Hawks. Along with that pesky Gaian that somehow evaded their grasp before, they had finally ensured their victory of taking over the entire Atmos and beyond. They were pretty proud of themselves for accomplishing something for such a long time, ever since those pesky kids decided to take on them.

The only one who wasn't celebrating early was the Dark Ace, who had been suspicious about this whole ordeal. He had a strange feeling ever since they left Terra Bogaton that something was not right. The pirate's plan to have the Storm Hawks rescued was a little off, even for him. He wouldn't have risk an attempt for charity and even so, he would have never allowed himself to be captured so easily. Standing right next to Cyclonis, the commander looked down at her and asked, "Master Cyclonis, don't you think this may be a bit soon to celebrate victory?"

The young empress glance up at him, a bit confused. "Whatever do you mean?" Truth be told, she was just a little apprehensive of the situation they were in, them being the victors and all. However, her pride and the conviction that she had finally won overrode her good judgment.

"The Murk Raider seemed to be far too cooperative when we capture him. I think he might have some sort of plan." Though a little concern at first, Cyclonis brushed it the Dark Ace's assumption like it was nothing. She already had all her greatest foes simply locked away and anyone else who was a threat could not even know of her plan.

"Dark Ace, you shouldn't worry. We have our enemies imprisoned and under heavy guard. We are safely away from any known sky routes and sky knight terras. I think it's safe to say that I have finally achieved-!" Before Cyclonis could finish her sentence, the airship shook violently causing her to fall out of her chair. Getting up off the ground, she spoke up, "What was that?!"

The Talon overlooking the radar, answered her, "It seems that something hit us. She turned to glare at him, with an expression that said _"Ya think!"_ Shrinking at that look, the Talon quickly looked back at the screen to figure out how to explain it further. "Radar shows four blips near our ship."

"What?" Cyclonis turned to look outside and saw something, or somethings, moved under the cloud cover. Seeing her notice something, everyone on the bridge turned to see what was outside. After several seconds of silence that test their nerve, the things inside moved forward to reveal what they truly were. Right on their side was a fleet of Murk Raider ships, poised for attack.

Soon after those ships appeared out of the clouds, they released fire on the Talon Destroyer. The members onboard shook with each blast, losing balance tremendously. Cyclonis grinded her teeth when she watched her soldiers nervously jolted. "How did they know we were coming this way?"

"… Apparently, our prisoner still had a trick up his sleeve," the Dark Ace answered calmly as he felt his master's stare upon him. She looked back down, thinking it over. Of course Scabulous would have planned something like this. But how did he even plan this so well? They had made sure to take every precaution, looking over every detail that he could use to his advantage. She thought about it over and over before realizing something and then closing her eyes in frustration. It seemed that she had forgotten about _that_.

While she mentally slapped herself for letting her guard down, she overheard one of the grunts say, "Cyclonis, shall we send out a unit to take out their cannons?" As much as that would have been helpful, there was a bigger problem that needed to be attending to immediately, and she didn't want to split up the man-power for it.

"No! All Talons need to stay on this ship! I want no one to go outside!" Everyone went silent and stared at her as if she was mad. There was no way they could survive that barrage of firepower if they all stay on the ship.

The Talon who spoke to her gulped, afraid to state his own opinion in this situation. "Master, not to upset you, but our shields won't be able to hold off the bombardment for long and we may be shot down. I suggest we send a small squadron for assault while we try to move away to a better position."

Cyclonis seemed to ponder about that even though she was still a little bit peeved. She definitely didn't want the ship to land in the Wastelands. However, she also didn't want to lose her newly-gotten prisoners either. After thinking over, she came to a compromise and spoke, "Fine, send out a squadron to disarm those cannons but only the lesser skilled. I still need my strongest troops here for back-up."

The Talon nodded before relaying the message to the others on the ship. While this was going on, Cyclonis grabbed her staff and looked over at the Dark Ace. "Come with me. I need you and the other commanders as well." He nodded before following after her, gripping his sword. He knew what she was feeling and he was feeling it too. There was no way they were letting them get away this time.

* * *

Meanwhile at Cell Level One, the Talon stationed there was trying his best to remained standing as the ship was being bombarded. This was easier said than done since the constant barrage of cannon fire was making the whole ship shake. After colliding with one of the cell doors, he had enough of being tossed around and shouted, "What the hell is going on around here?!"

"That would be my getaway," a sinister voice sneered as something grabbed the guard by the throat. After freezing up by the sound of the voice, he slowly looked up to see Scabulous, smiling at him and holding by his mechanical arm. "Now… If you just hand me the key."

"… You mean this key?" The Talon wasted no time holding up the key to Scabulous' cell. The pirate smirked before grabbing the key and then knocking the guard out with his other hand. Afterwards, he proceeded to unlock the door, walking out a free Murk Raider.

Stretching his arms, he said, "Now, onto the best part…" He was about to head towards the storage room until a loud roar was heard. Oh yea, he did forget about that, didn't he?

Scabulous looked over the jail cell that held Repton and his brothers, and frankly, the lizard did not look happy to see him leave. "WHAT ABOUT ME!" Scabulous looked in between the cell and the key ring, complementing the idea of freeing them. However, he still just wasn't sure of it.

After thinking it over, the Murk Raider decided to ask the most important question at the moment. "Do you still want to kill me?"

"OF COURSSSE!" Apparently, Repton didn't have to really think on that. After much soul searching, Scabulous decided to meet in the middle and laid the keys on the ground. It wasn't far from Repton's cell, but it also wasn't within arms' reach either.

"Have fun!" And with that, he walked right out of the dungeon with swiftness. The Raptors looked at the door before turning to the key with ill expressions placed upon their faces. Of course, the Raider would do something like this. He was a pirate after all

Repton glared over at his brothers and commanded, "Well, don't jusssst ssssstand there! Get the key!" They quickly saluted before trying their best to reach for the key. However, they had no success in getting it due to them crowding around and fighting for it. Repton sighed as he listened to the three complained to each other. "It'ssss timessss like thesssse that I wisssssh I wassss the only hatchling in the nesssst."

* * *

While this was going on, the Storm Hawks plus Starling had broken out of their own cell, had gathered up their gear, and were now heading to where they thought their rides were. Though they could take out all the Talons in the ship right now, they knew better. They already had an opportunity to escape safely from the surprise attack. They didn't want to waste any unnecessary time to fight both their captors _and _whoever was attacking the ship. Their goals were to find their skimmers and Emma, and then get away as quickly as possible.

After several minutes of sneakily making through hordes of frightened Talons, they finally made it to the cargo bay. It was unprotected, possibly due to the unexpected attack that caught everyone off guard. Luckily along with crates filled with crystals, their rides and weapons were also there. Now, they just needed to get to the _Condor _and fly away to safety. But before they could actually take the next step, someone swung a piece of pipe at them.

"WOAH!" Aerrow quickly got out of the way, ducking down when it swung horizontally. Looking up, he was surprised to see it was Emma. The others were also surprised to see her, noticing how frantic she looked. She took some hard breathes before realizing who she had attacked, reverting to a slightly calmer person.

"Oh… Sorry about that," she spoke as she set the bar aside, "It's just that a lot of stuff has happen and I really _really _want this to be over." The others just stared at her, completely confused. This sounded like Emma but with everything that has happen, they still didn't know if this was another Cyclonian trick.

"… Ummmm, are you okay?" Finn asked as he waved at Emma, "Last we heard you attacked Aerrow." Emma was silent for a moment, thinking it over. She _did_ attack Aerrow, even though she was deceived into it. She could explain the whole scenario to them, but there was still the situation of being on an enemy ship that was under attack. So, her explanation would have to wait.

Turning away from them, she replied, "I'm fine. Let's just get out of here." She then looked around, ignoring their looks of distress. Upon hearing her tone, they knew she had something on her mind, even if it wasn't about the incident. She would always try to hide whatever was bothering her for who knows what reason. It was a hassle at times, but they didn't really question her why she did it. Everything turned out okay in the end anyway.

However this time, Aerrow was tired of her whole act. After everything that has happened, after all they had been through together; she still didn't feel like they were friends. She still kept to herself even though they told her many times they would help and support no matter what. Well, he was tired of her attitude and he decided that now was the perfect time to talk to her about it.

"Emma, wait-!"

However, fate seemed to disagree with him as a blast from the battle shook the entire airship along with everyone inside it. The group tumbled around, trying to regain balance in a shaky environment. During that time, Finn rammed into some cargo boxes, knocking them over onto the ground.

"Ah, dude! Can it wait until we're out of here? I really don't want to see who's attacking the Cyclonians." In one of those rare moments, Finn brought up an actual good point. If the Talons were having this much of a problem, then they definitely needed to get out of here before they could be over-swarm by an unknown enemy. Unfortunately, someone else had decided to delay them longer.

"Why, rush?" a voice interrupted, "We haven't even gotten to the good part yet." Everyone quickly turned to find Captain Scabulous behind them, a callous grin placed upon his face. Holding his sword in a threatening way at them, he smirked. "Now, you have two choices in the matter. We can either help each other out, or you can get in my way and receive a beating."

Now despite his half-hearted threat didn't held up against their numbers (excluding Junko and Stork at the moment), they still needed to be careful with the pirate. They weren't looking for a fight right now and this was a desperate attempt in a desperate situation. They didn't have the time to suppress him without turning this into a drawn-out bloodbath. However, the higher beings have a better sense of humor as out of nowhere Repton came up from behind and tackled Scabulous to the ground.

With his dramatic entrance ruined, Scabulous squirmed underneath the raptor's body. "Damn it, ya lizard! I was this close with the final phase of my plan!" The others stood back and watched, not wishing to get in-between the two. Despites the pirate's pleads to get off, Repton still stayed on him and with good reason. He had made him get captured and risk the lives of him and his brothers. That was more than enough reason to kill him then some petty revenge.

A couple of seconds later, Emma stepped forward, much to everyone else's astonishment. She approached Scabulous and leaned forward, giving him the most chilling blank stare. It even surprised Scabulous for at least a few seconds. She then spoke, "You knew… You knew that this was going to happen, didn't you?"

It took a while for him to answer, smirking before going into a deafening cackle. "Maybe I did. It still doesn't change the fact that we're still on an enemy ship, I'm still an untrustworthy pirate, and you're still a naïve child." After struggling underneath Repton's weight, he soon squirmed himself free before standing up. "Though I should give you credit. If things have gone differently, you would've managed a good head start."

"… What is he talking about?" asked Aerrow, a bit confused. Out of all the strange things that have been happening, this pretty much topped it off. Emma was talking in a very threatening tone to one of the most dangerous criminals in Atmos when she would have been running from him before. If he only knew what had happen, then he would have understood her reasons for being threatening.

Before Emma could explain the events thus far, Scabulous answered, "Simple, we promised that if the whole thing fails, we escape and she gets to stay back on my ship forever. However…" He waged his finger. "I had a feeling that she would try again despite our word. In fact, she was probably planning to knock me out and come back for you… Or die trying." Emma looked shock for a moment, figuring out she would do that first part of the sentence while deciding on whether or not to do the second. Of course, she should have known that he would have found out about her back-up plan.

"So, in order to rescue you and make sure that the Gaian doesn't pull a stunt like that, I had to come up with a fake plan that Cyclonis would counter without her knowing my true objective. She thinks she gets an easy victory while my ships track us by use of a hidden signal for the raid." He then clapped his hands together after finishing his explanation. "So, shall we get on to looting then?"

Everyone just stared silently at the pirate captain, expressing both confusion and fury. It was a couple of seconds later that Emma held her hand to Aerrow and requested, "Aerrow, may I borrow your daggers?" The young sky knight didn't even have to look at her face to know what she was planning. If there was one thing he had learned about Emma, it was that she takes drastic measures when pushed too far.

Repton also seemed to notice the Gaian's intentions and growled threateningly at her. "Oh no, he ssstill needsss to anssswer to me for what he did to me!" It was around this time that his brothers showed up exhausted from running and overheard what their leader had said.

"Don't you mean "us", boss?" The eldest sighed, realizing that making his brothers stay out of _his _fight was going to be harder than expected. Not that he appreciated the thought, it was just that they wouldn't be much help in execution.

Sensing the tension in the room, Scabulous spoke, "Come now, there's no need to be mad. I did fulfill my commitments, and I wasn't going to let you get hurt. Why be furious about a minor detail with our agreement?"

"… Because no one likes being used." Emma's answer was pretty much what everyone else was thinking but it was very personal to her. Throughout her adventure, she had been manipulated her into doing dangerous and/or horrendous tasks by people who didn't put her wellbeing into mind. Now, she wanted to show what she was going to do to people if they try to manipulate her again.

Unfortunately, she didn't have the chance since another blast from the outside shook the airship again. Stork, being his usual self, spoke up, "Ummm… Not to ruin your little moment, but maybe we should leave before this ship heads down or worse, the Cyclonians find us." He then noticed that a group of Talon grunts standing on the rail platforms with their staves pointed at them. "Oh, wait, nevermind. They found us."

As the Cyclonians began shooting at them, everyone quickly ran and hid behind a mass of crates. Thanks to wasting time on a past matter, the group was now under attack with more probably on their way. Seeing the predicament they were in, Scabulous looked towards the group with an upbeat smirk. "So… Now, that were under attack, do you think we could band together in order to take them down?"

Repton glared at him as if he was crazy. "And help you?! I would rather have my tail cut off!"

"As much as I hate to agree with Repton," Aerrow spoke up as he too stared at the Murk Raider too, "You aren't exactly the reliable type." Other than this situation, there were many times that Scabulous had shown he would have done anything to get what he wanted. This was probably another trick to get their guard down.

Scabulous raised an eyebrow as if to ask were they serious about that. "If this was any other time, I would've left to save my own skin. But right now, fighting amongst ourselves would be senseless since we're all cornered. I'm sure that the Gaian will agree with me on this since she has experience in being cornered."

Emma glared at the pirate, somehow feeling that he was going to use her for being her input on this subject. "You really think I'm going to vouch on how trustworthy you are after getting us captured!" However, she also knew the reality of the situation and realized that there was little choice. "But fighting each other wouldn't do us any good. Besides, the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"… And the enemy right now is the Cyclonians." Aerrow thought about Emma's statement, taking the quote into mind. The Storm Hawks were already capable of handling themselves. But with possibly more Talons coming including the top three commanders and Master Cyclonis herself, it would be best for all of them to team up instead of going into a battle royale with one another.

After thinking about the best course of action, the sky knight looked over at everyone and said, "Alright, I don't want to admit it, but we have to team up." This pretty much shocked everyone, including the Raptors but Scabulous was smirking at the boy's decision. Aerrow then looked over at Stork, who was covering his head with a crate. "Stork, can you head to the _Condor_ and pull her away from the Destroyer?"

"And be eradicated by Talons on my way there." The merb twitched at the thought of it, although he was smiling as he spoke. "… I think I might have to get back to you on that."

It was around this time that Repton figured out an excellent strategy. The merb needed to get to the _Condor _and he needed a way to get rid of his brothers so they couldn't mess up their battle. "Take my brothersss! They'll protect you assss you head to your sssship." His brothers took a bit of notice to his scheme but before they had the chance to protest, he shouted, "IF YOU SSSAY ONE WORD, I'LL FILLET YOU RIGHT HERE AND NOW!"

The three brothers turned white with shock before slumping into defeat. "Yes, boss." Despite knowing they were going to be in the way, they still wanted to help Repton. Stork was also not too fond of the idea of them going together to his ship.

"Oh joy…"

"Okay, let's do this!" Everyone held out their weapons before springing up from their box barricade towards the Talons. While the enemy was distracted by the sudden assault, they didn't notice a merb plus three Raptors sneak away from battle. It had been fairly easy for the alliance of sky knights and rogues to take the Cyclonians down, mostly because their opponents were just low level grunts. But it wasn't before long that more Talons arrived along with Cyclonis and her commanders.

"Well, well; if it isn't the Storm Hawks along with the sky knight spy, the double-crossing raptor, the pirate rogue, and the Gaian escapee," Cyclonis greeted with a mock smile, "It's so nice to see that you let yourself out for our fight." She readied her staff while the rest pulled out their significant weapons.

"Well, we didn't want to miss our battle, would we?" Aerrow taunted back as he turned his full attention to his arch nemesis, ferocity burning in his eyes. He watched as they too joined into the conflict, making their way towards his team. It wouldn't be too long before they clashed and when they did, it would an interesting encounter.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Again, I'm sorry for slow updates. Other than the obligations in my real life like school work, I'll level with you and say that I'm getting distracted by minor trivial stuff…The trivial stuff being mindless distraction video games… You may proceed to throw your harmful objects now.

Anyway, I've been going over this chapter, editing out some things in order to keep with its mood and trying to keep character's personalities in canon. Only part of a scene was change while the rest were a few minor alterations in script. Hopefully, you guys felt that this was a good chapter.

Now, I would like to thank Cold-heart-Angel93, Hawk-Masters, and Elemental Queen for reviewing the last chapter. Again, sorry it took so long. I hope to get my writing groove back soon.

With that done, next chapter will include an epic fight! … By audience standards with any luck.

Please Read and Review!


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